


The Summoned Land

by Mythweaver



Series: Chronicles of the High Summoner [1]
Category: Final Fantasy IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-22
Updated: 2008-08-22
Packaged: 2017-11-03 11:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 122,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/381008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mythweaver/pseuds/Mythweaver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened to Rydia when she went to the Land of the Summoned Monsters? A coming of age tale--amidst the most unusual of circumstances. Note: This was written before the DS remake and the names/terminologies reflect this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Rydia followed Leviathan through the twisting passages of the cavern. To her surprise, she found that instead of walking on the floor, she was floating a few inches above it. She wondered at how she was floating, but guessed it was probably Leviathan who had cast the spell.

            His deep purple robe swished as he glided on the air, looking almost like a specter because to Rydia it appeared he had no feet. He said very little as he guided her, and she didn’t have the courage to ask him anything, so they walked in silence through the dim, but strangely glowing cave.

            The monsters Rydia had seen when she first found herself here, fled when Leviathan walked past. It made Rydia feel slightly safer that they wouldn’t bother her so long as she kept close to the summon.

            They passed several more chambers and rooms, and Leviathan finally brought her to a passage that simply ended. There were no other chambers to enter, it just ended in a wall that looked like petrified vines. Rydia looked down and gasped. Past her feet and through the floor she could see lights and houses. There was a whole city beneath her! She couldn’t believe that a city had been built beneath a cavern, but then again, she couldn’t believe she was standing beside the most powerful of summons either.

            When he walked away from her and stopped next to a small metal plaque on the floor, she paused and looked up at him, confused.

            He pointed at the plaque and she curiously walked forward, inspecting the plaque but finding nothing too remarkable about it except for maybe a few runes she didn’t recognize. She glanced back up at him warily.

            “I don’t understand.”

            “Step on it. There’s nothing to understand,” he answered, gesturing with his hand towards the object on the floor.

            Step on it? Rydia remembered hearing about teleporters, but she didn’t know what they looked like or exactly what they did, and she wasn’t too eager to find out. It appeared that Leviathan did not have the patience for a battle of wits and when Rydia’s hesitation lasted longer than a few minutes, he pushed her onto the plaque and she felt the magic surge through her, melting the world around her and bringing her to an entirely different place. She had to take a few breaths to collect herself, but as she looked around, she noticed that the buildings and lights all looked familiar. She had been transported through the floor and into the city she had seen. Leviathan emerged from the portal behind her, taking her by the shoulders, and leading her once again to where he wanted her.

            As she walked the unusual plank streets of the city, she saw people in long hooded robes staring at her from a distance. She heard strange voices whispering to each other, fingers pointing, and noticed that no one would meet her gaze. Who were these people?

            The city was made of many different levels, each being connected by a set of stairs. Leviathan led her to the lowest of the tiers and to a building with a chocobo standing near the entrance. It kweh’d at her and hopped, causing Rydia to jump back, a bit alarmed. What on earth was a chocobo doing in a place like this? When she studied the bird a bit closer she noticed that it looked very familiar. It looked like the chocobo she had frequently summoned to help her in battle while she and Cecil journeyed together.

            “This way,” Leviathan directed her, interrupting her thoughts, and opening the door to the building and ushering her inside.

            When she stepped through the doorway, the smell of old books was almost overwhelming. Shelves upon shelves of tomes faced her from every direction. This must be a library, she realized. A few more hooded citizens were seated at a table reading, and the moment she entered they scurried away from the table and ran behind the bookshelves, hiding.

            Rydia couldn’t help but feel that she was an intruder in a place she didn’t belong. Nothing about this city seemed normal or friendly, and Rydia wanted to know why Leviathan had taken her here. She missed Cecil, Yang, and Edward. She missed traveling with them, learning everything she could, and listening to their stories. Why had Leviathan rescued her from the ocean, but left her friends to die? Was it all just to bring her here? Hadn’t she gone through enough already?

            She followed him down a set of stone stairs in the library and found herself in a room lit by torches with stone walls and a wooden floor. There were two men in long robes standing in the room, and there was also a woman in an elegant gown who caught Rydia’s gaze immediately and made her want to shrink away into a corner.

            “What is this, Leviathan, a drowned rat?” the woman asked.

            Leviathan walked forwards, taking his place beside the woman. Rydia felt her cheeks grow very red. She had forgotten in her confusion that she was still soaking wet from the shipwreck. She tugged absentmindedly at her damp hair.

            “This is no drowned rat,” Leviathan replied.

            “Then what is she?”

            A strange kind of indignation welled up in Rydia. Why was she being referred to as a thing and not a person? Just because she was young and soaked to the bone, didn’t make her some kind of abomination.

            “I-I’m a girl,” she blurted out, not sure how the words escaped her lips.

            The woman’s eyebrows rose. “A girl? Are you some kind of stowaway, to have found our hidden city? What’s so special about you, girl, that you are here?”

            Rydia clamped her mouth shut.

            Leviathan looked over at the woman and sought out her attention. “She is here because I brought her here. She is a summoner, the last of her kind, it seems.”

            “She is a summoner--this little girl? My, my, you certainly are an interesting creature after all.”

            Rydia’s eyes widened in disbelief. She was a creature now?

            “I’m sure you’re wondering where you are,” the woman continued. “You are now within the borders of the secret city, the land of the summoned ones. Humans are not allowed here, but if it is true that you are a summoner as Leviathan believes you to be, you are welcomed here only because of the connection you share with our kind.” She paused, inclining her head in a haughty manner, making sure Rydia understood her place. “My name is Asura. I am the queen of the land of summons and I am the intermediary between most everyone and Leviathan. By Leviathan’s grace, you were spared my interrogation, but you will not escape my questions now. You are the last of the summoners, is this true?”

            Rydia nodded her head.

            “How did you come to be the last of your kind?”

            Rydia gulped and took a deep breath. “There was a fire…”

            “Mere fire does not wipe out an entire village of mages, there must have been more than that.”

            “We were attacked--”

            “Attacked by whom?”

            The queen’s quick questions caught Rydia off guard.

           “B-Baron. Baron sent men to kill us.”

           The queen’s eyebrows knit together and she pursed her lips. “Baron? Strange, I’ve been hearing many murmurs about that kingdom recently…But how did these men enter the summoner’s village? Had we not sent the Mist Dragon to aide you?”

           Rydia’s throat began to tighten. “The Mist Dragon, my mother…they defeated her.”

           The queen closed her eyes, and a strange silence fell over the room. “So Arya is dead. I thought I felt the bond between our worlds weaken.”

           “How…how do you know my mother’s name?”

           “I’m intrigued. I never knew Arya had a daughter,” Asura remarked. “Your mother was the best summoner of the village, the high summoner. She was charged with protecting the village from unfriendly visitors, and we helped her by sending the Mist Dragon. It is the Mist Dragon who has been known for many years as the namesake of the valley. Mist had gone missing about the same time that we felt the connection between the worlds weaken, and we worried that something terrible had happened. Leviathan went looking for the summoners but it seems the only one he could sense with the gift was you.”

          A startling realization struck Rydia. “You knew I was on the ocean? You knew where we were going so you attacked us, just to find me? What about Cecil, Edward, and Yang! They could be dead!”

          “Who are these people you speak of?”

          “My friends! They protected me ever since the village. Why did you do that to them!”

          “That’s quite enough!”

          “No, it’s not!”

          Leviathan and Asura both looked at her, startled.

          “I have to know if my friends are still alive!”

         Asura glanced at Leviathan.

         “And I need to go home!” Rydia shouted, desperation creeping into her voice.

         Asura gazed at the girl with indifferent eyes. “I’m afraid going home is out of the question. You have seen the hidden city and we cannot allow you to leave. This is your home now. As for these friends of yours, their fate is no longer your concern while you are here. You have other things over which to concern yourself. Rest assured that whatever fate they met, they all met for their own reasons. Leviathan, I’m through with my questions, you may take her from here.”

         Rydia was immediately horrified.

         “You can’t keep me here, people will come to look for me! Take me back right now!”

         Despite her clamouring, Leviathan approached her and picked her up by the arms, carrying her as she kicked and squirmed. Once they were out of the basement of the library, Leviathan set her down.

         “You really must calm down, little one. And I must advise you not to take everything Asura tells you too seriously. You see, she has many faces, and today was not one of her better ones. In time you will learn the order of things here in the Summoned Land.”

         “I don’t understand. Why are you keeping me here?”

         “You are the last of the summoners. Without you, our existence is called into question. When we lose our footing in one world, we begin to lose our footing in the other, until eventually we perish.”

         “You can die?” Rydia asked, shocked.

         “All things can die, little one.”

         “But why are you keeping me here? To keep you alive?”

         “You are here because we were searching for the summoners and found you. If you are truly the last of them, we cannot afford to risk your life. If you were to die, so would we.”

        “Where are you taking me now?”

        “I am taking you to a home where you will live. By tomorrow we will have decided what to do with you during your time with us.”

        Rydia, overwhelmed by everything she had just heard and experienced, followed Leviathan out of the library and out into the streets of the city. He led her to a half tier, and after they’d climbed the stairs, she was face to face with a door to a small house.

       “Is this entire house mine?” she gasped.

       “Yes. I hope it is suitable for you. You will be retrieved in the morning,” he replied.

        Rydia looked away from the house and out into the surroundings. Morning? Everything outside of the city was completely black. The only source of light came from the lamps on poles that stood at every street corner. It was like staring out into complete nothingness, and living in a space that was just floating somewhere inside it.

       “I advise not to walk around the city. The others are not keen on outsiders. Someone will come for you in the morning,” Leviathan instructed her, gesturing towards the door of the house.

        Rydia stared at him skeptically, but walked towards the house and opened the door. The inside of the house was nicely furnished. Lamps burned softly in the main room, illuminating a small table, chairs, a bed, and a few trunks. When she turned around to ask Leviathan something, he was already gone. She stood warily in the doorway for a few seconds before stepping inside and closing the door.

        She was a prisoner here, and nothing they said could change her mind. She would never be allowed to leave. She would never see the sun, the ocean, the mountains, or her friends again.

        She flopped onto her bed, tears forming in her eyes. The last thing she remembered before sleep overtook her, was the overwhelming determination to escape. She vowed that somehow, someday, she would.  

 

 


	2. Training Begins

Rydia pulled the covers over her face when sunlight splashed across her eyes. Futilely, she tried to return to the sleep she craved so badly, but suddenly her eyes popped open and she sat up, the blanket falling off of her face with a theatrical _swoosh_. Sunlight? She blinked. Was she out of the Summoned Land?

Bewilderment overtook her when her surroundings sharply reminded her that she was still exactly where she’d been the night before. All of the furniture was the same, all of the fixings too—by and by her conversation with Leviathan came to mind; only, why was there sunlight? She recalled the city being completely black and devoid of external light, so where was this light coming from? She slipped out of bed and walked to the center of the room, squinting up at the window that was high on the wall. Was it really sunlight, or was she imagining things?

While she stood there, entirely baffled, she heard a creak and a faint pattering of foot steps behind her. She felt her blood chill to ice; she was in a world of monsters, monsters that despised the presence of humans. She was reluctant to turn, almost hoping that if she ignored it, it would ignore her. She closed her eyes, concentrating, wondering how something got in her house and what that something was. Hopefully it wasn’t too dangerous, but no, it would have surely attacked by now. She cracked open one eye and peeked in front of her. What she saw made her jump back with a cry of surprise and alarm. On the floor in front of her was a peculiar looking cat. It was small, spotted, and had very long whiskers. At the moment its ears were laid back in annoyance.

“How did you get in here!” she demanded.

The creature pfffft’ed at her and began licking its paw. “Just like you humans—pushy, loud, and rude.”

“I’m hardly being rude!” she exclaimed, exasperated. “You broke into my house! What even are you?” she defended herself, becoming impatient.

It looked up and cocked its head, staring at her with gold eyes.

“I’ve come to get you,” it answered.

“Come to get me? Did Leviathan send you?”

The animal purred demurely and nodded.

“Wait a minute. You didn’t answer any of my questions!”

It flicked its tail and padded away from her, standing up on its hind legs and working the door open.

It lithely stepped out of the house, swishing its long tail behind it. Rydia ran to the door.

“Where are you going!” she insisted.

“Come, come, silly human, don’t dawdle all day.”

She made a sour expression and stepped into a peculiarly bright and busy city. Robed figures bustled by, circumnavigating her in their travels. No one looked directly at her; they lowered their cowled heads and shuffled past. Her eyes went wide when one such passerby’s scaly tail emerged from beneath his robe and dragged behind it. She pried her eyes away, and belatedly glanced to a stairway railing to see the unusual cat sitting on top of it, glaring at her with narrowed eyes.

She crossed the street, weaving between the robes and stepping over tails, and when she reached the cat’s perch, it bounded off again, leading her down the stairs, and through the rest of the city.

Rydia, realizing this was probably the only company she would have, sidled up to him, determined to talk with him a little.

“You never told me what you are,” she reminded him.

The ear he flicked in her direction told her that he’d heard, but still he chose not to answer her.

“Are you not saying anything because you don’t like me?”

Nothing.

“If you don’t like me, maybe you should send me back to my world and be free of me,” she tried, choosing her words very deliberately.

Now it looked at her. “You can’t leave now. You might tell others where you were.”

“No I wouldn’t!”

“All of you are the same. You lie.”

Rydia was more than flustered. “You can’t just go around accusing people of being liars when you don’t know a thing about them!”

“You call us monsters when you know nothing about _us_ ,” it replied.

Her mind raced back to Kaipo. She remembered what Cecil had said about monsters, that there was no such thing as a good monster, only bad ones. The cat was right, she hadn’t heard a single good thing about “monsters” in her travels, save the words of her mother in Mist.

“Where are you taking me? She asked instead, taking a different track.

“You ask a lot of questions!”

“You would too if you were me!”

It turned away from her and continued to walk along the street, taking Rydia away from the library where she knew Leviathan and Asura were, and leading her to a wide open stretch of road. It almost looked like an arena, with high walls built up around it that only two staircases led out of.

Rydia nervously observed her surroundings. What did this mean?

“What is this place?”

The cat glanced at her, annoyed. “It’s the testing grounds of course!”

“Testing?” she asked, finding that the cat was already leaving her by herself.

“Where are you going!”

“My job is done, I’m leaving now,” the cat answered, then flicked its tail at her, and leapt up the stairs the two of them had just come from.

Rydia stood in the center of the arena, and felt her throat go dry. She was to be tested? Tested for what?

Her nerves only got worse when Leviathan himself descended the other set of stairs to the arena. He was once again the robed figure of a man he had been the night before, and his purple robes flowed behind him in a dignified way.

Rydia stared at him, almost determined to make a run for the stairs and escape, but her feet felt nailed to the ground.

“Little summoner,” Leviathan’s voice rumbled across the space between them. “Today you will show me the extent of your knowledge. Attack me with your magic.”

Rydia’s heart skipped a beat. Attack the most powerful summon with magic? _Her_ magic? She couldn’t get her mouth open to speak.

“Is there a problem, summoner? Did you not hear me, or are you mute?”

She shook her head, hoping that her nerves would shake loose as well. “W-why do you want me to attack you?” she asked, her voice quiet, and very shrill.

“I cannot know what you need to learn if you do not use your magic. Do not worry about damaging me, I will be fine.”

She gulped, and tried to organize her thoughts, looking for the right words.

She closed her eyes and began to chant the ice spell. It fell from her lips and the air chilled near the water summon, leaving only crystals in his beard.

She opened her eyes to see that her spell had achieved only frost and frowned. That was it? She closed her eyes again and began the lightning spell.

She released it and heard the sharp crack of the bolt as it found its target. When she opened her eyes again, the summon was still standing in place, no damage, not even a stray hair in sight.

Rydia became a bit frustrated. Was she really this weak? She chanted the fire spell, and released that as well. Again, no damage.

He merely stood there and stared at her with intense dark eyes. “Is that all?” he asked, his voice neutral and not in challenge.

Rydia tried to think. There was nothing else she knew that she could send his way.

“What can you summon, little one?”

“A chocobo, your majesty.”

“Yes, you are very young,” he mused. “You have much to learn, little one. Much to understand.”

She frowned, not completely understanding. “You’re going to teach me?”

“Someone has to. You are to become a high summoner, and you cannot become so without careful guidance and instruction.”

“But…why?”

“You will be the one to strengthen the connection between our worlds. And once you have become strong, you will train other summoners.”

“But that could take years! I don’t have that much time! I need to get to the upper world, or wherever it is, and rescue Rosa! And who’s going to stop Golbez from stealing the crystals now that my friends are gone! You have to let me go back!”

Leviathan’s expression was cool.

“There’s something that I will tell you now, and then that is the end of it. Your friends are well. I scattered them on the currents to where each of them is meant to go. Their fate was not to die, just as yours was not to continue your journey with them.

A great responsibility lies on your shoulders. We need to protect you from anyone who wishes you harm, and we will train you in our wisdom. You are to become a high summoner, but that does not come without a price. The first of those costs is letting go of your friends. The path they take now is their own. Perhaps someday they will all join again, but that time is far off. The second cost is remaining here, among the summoned ones. And finally, you are to forget the white magic you have learned. You are not to be a sage, you are a summoner, and a summoner has no need of such spells.”

Rydia didn’t quite hear all he said, she was still hanging onto the words—‘your friends are well’. Cecil and the others were alive! Her mind was racing through all the particulars of where they might be, what they were doing, and if they were looking for her at all. She frowned, wondering if Cecil would look for her first before looking for Rosa. She wondered if there was some way to send him a message, to let him know that he didn’t have to look for her, that she would find a way to come to him—soon hopefully…

She looked up and saw Leviathan scrutinizing her closely.

“What _now_ , little one?” he asked, thinking her frown was in reaction to his words.

She quickly shook her head, hiding her true thoughts. “I’m to become a high summoner? Do you think I’m even good enough for that?”

She spotted a glint in his eye.

“You will do well, I have no doubts. You are advanced for one of your age, and you learn quickly. You just need your skills to be honed.”

“But what happens now?” she asked, not believing that this “testing” was all she would endure for the day.

The summon smiled.

“Come with me.”


	3. Hitting the Books

 

 

            Leviathan swept past Rydia and ascended the stairs behind her, back the way she’d come. He hadn’t elaborated on “come with me”, he simply expected her to follow, and follow she did.

            When the library came back into view, Rydia’s mind tried to figure out just what was waiting for her there.

The door to the library opened and closed behind her, and she once again followed the summon into the dark interior lit by oil lamps.

            He stopped when he reached the center of the main chamber and faced her again.

            “Can you read?” he asked.

            She craned her head forward, as if she hadn’t heard him properly. “Read?”

            “Yes. Can you read?”

            Rydia felt the swell of dread building in her, knowing the coming disappointment that was sure to follow her answer. But then an unexpected thought came to her, that maybe if they thought she was farther ahead than she was, they wouldn’t keep her so long.

            “Yes?”

            Leviathan kept a steady gaze leveled on her, making her want to shrink into a corner. Could he see through her lie?

            He nodded his head, some thought unknown to her, crossing his mind. “Wait here,” was all he said and he walked away from her and down the set of stairs that she remembered led to the throne room. While he was absent, she took the opportunity to look around the room. There were no windows in this building. Nothing but the oil lamps illuminated the room, and they left a strange smoky haze in the air that made Rydia’s eyes water. It was a reasonably sized room lined with shelves of various heights. On the shelves were tomes of different widths and heights, mostly leather bound, and they all looked extremely ancient.

            She’d never seen so many books before in her life, not even in the elder’s house in Mist. She had a sudden wish that she _could_ read all these books and learn what secrets they held. She could feel the knowledge of their pages all around her. The magic they contained was palpable, and she wondered why she hadn’t felt it the night before.

            She was about to walk over to one of the shelves, when Leviathan re-emerged from the stairs with an all too familiar creature at his side. It was the cat with the peculiar features and sharp golden eyes.

            She looked from the cat to Leviathan and waited.

            “Black will help you learn the content of these texts. You may be able to read, but he will increase your knowledge and sharpen your skills. When you are ready, you will be able to read the greatest of these books and learn the arts they contain. Are you ready?”

            She raised her eyebrows, concern on her face.

            “Now?”

            “Yes, when else did you have in mind?”

            Rydia shrugged despondently. Would she ever have a chance to find a way out of this place?

            “Good. Your lessons will begin now. I’ll return when I can to check on your progress,” he explained, leaving her alone again with the irascible feline.

            When Leviathan was out of the room, there was an awkward silence between girl and cat.

            The cat simply sat on its back legs, as if waiting for her to say something. Rydia had nothing to say, so she waited for him to move.

            Finally the cat walked towards her, but instead of directly approaching her, took off behind her.

            “This way,” he ordered, walking to a wooden table with a lamp, a stack of parchments, and a pot of ink on it. He jumped onto the table and patted with one paw on the surface, indicating that she was to join him.

            Rydia pulled up a chair and sat down in it. Once she was settled, Black shoved the stack of parchments at her. The inkpot too he pushed in her direction with the quill already in it. She knew what they were for, but not what she was supposed to do with them.

  1.             She looked imploringly at Black but the cat just stared back at her with what she thought might have been a snide grin.       



“What do you want me to do?” she asked innocently.




            She plucked the quill from its holder. It was long and sturdy; yellow with veins of white, almost silver. It must be a chocobo’s feather, she thought. Beautiful as it was, it rested awkwardly in her small hands and she could hardly balance it properly.

            “Haven’t you ever held a quill before?” Black goaded.

            “Of course I have!”

            “Write something then,” he pushed.

            Rydia’s heart was close to stopping. How could she maintain her ruse if she could do nothing more than scribble illegibly? Surely the clever cat would catch on.

            She clenched he teeth, her lips a fine grim line, and dipped the quill in the little pot of ink.

            She struggled to make the delicate characters she vaguely remembered her mother making long ago. The letters hadn’t meant much to her then, it was well known that a summoner’s skill was passed from master to student and not from written words. She never thought she’d have to use them, for her mother had used them infrequently at best and it was only for letters and passing information around the village.

            While her mind followed that thought, another occurred to her. She was the last summoner, and a mostly untrained one at that. She would have to teach someone else the knowledge of the summoners, and the realization of that work was a burden on her shoulders, her responsibility.

            The quill scratched across the parchment, and Rydia’s feeble characters appeared on the page. Black eyed her sharply, watching her write, and a frown formed on his whiskered face.

            She finished up her writing and put the quill down.

            Black inspected her work and his tail twitched irritably.

            “What is this mess?” he asked.

            Rydia’s cheeks grew warm.

            “It’s how I write,” she answered.

            He glared at her. “Read this.”

            She looked at the words he was pointing to, and thought up something quick.

            “The boy fetched water,” she said, hoping it was somewhere close to the truth.

            Black pffft’ed at her again.

            For a moment, Rydia thought she had him fooled.

            “You’re a pathetic liar, for a human,” Black snapped. “Did you think your scribbles would fool me? You can’t read or write at all, can you.”

            “That’s not true!” she protested, then dipped her voice to a weak whisper, “I can read a little.”

            “They taught you nothing in your home?”

            “What do I have to do with words and letters? Summoners pass their knowledge by speech; it has always been this way.”

            “You’re wrong, summoner girl. The summoners wrote down every spell and every summon, names and all.”

            “That’s not true. There were no books like this in Mist.”

            “Not where you could see them, girl. These are the texts of your people, given to us to protect from unfriendly eyes.”

            Rydia furrowed her brow, not quite believing.

            “How did they get here?” she asked, surprised to learn something about her people that she hadn’t known before.

            “We were summoned and charged to take them with us. These texts are the records of your kind, and with them, we will teach you their secrets.”

            “Why do this?”

            “Because, as much I and others dislike you for your human ways and presence here, you are needed for our survival.”

            “Leviathan said that already, but I don’t understand.”

            “What’s there to understand?”

            “How do I keep you alive? Just by being?”

            The cat gave her a look that suggested she should already know.

            Her expression claimed her innocence, and the longer she stared at Black the more the cat relented, sitting back on its haunches.

            “You really don’t know?”

            Rydia was expectant.

            “Every time you summon us, you call us back to the Earth. The less we are called, the more we leave the world. With nothing to hold us down we become nothing more than beasts, or even worse, we may vanish completely.”

            “Beasts?”

            “Beasts,” he repeated.

            “You mean you used to be beasts?”

            “We used to be many things, but we are what we are and cannot remain so without the summoners. Therefore, you will learn to read.”

            Rydia strangled a groan. Yet another task she must complete before being free of this place.

            For what seemed to be hours, Rydia sat in the dark library listening to Black make the sounds of each letter of the common speech. By the end of a seeming eternity she found that she could almost remember and recognize some letters, but it would be a long time before she’d master them and learn the words they formed.

            By the end of the lesson she was exhausted and her stomach protested from the abuse it had taken the last two days. She hadn’t eaten since before the shipwreck?

            The more she thought about her hunger, the more exhausted she became and the worse her stomach hurt.

            Black had begun another lesson, heedless of how much a person’s mind could hold in one sitting, and his words began to blend in her head, indistinguishable from each other.

            Her face must have been pale because for the first time, Black stopped his lecture and showed concern.

            “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

            She shook her head, determined to give him no more reason to doubt her, when she felt worse and worse by the minute. She was already humiliated enough by her refusal to admit she couldn’t read. Nothing today had been going right.

            Thinking back, everything from her arrival, the testing, to all of this studying was a large blur in her mind. She wasn’t sure how long her physical needs had been neglected.

Now that she thought about it, she could still feel the salt on her skin, the smell of brine all about her and came to realize the tangled mess her hair must have been. In the confusion of her arrival and the swift removal to her own private home, she hadn’t had much time for any proper thought other than finding her way home again. Her basic needs had been shut away, in some place she didn’t realize she had within her.

The thought of the shipwreck rapidly came to the front of her memories and sent her stomach reeling, but she kept herself in check. The dizziness that suddenly overtook her, though, was another matter. This place was too foreign, too strange to take in so soon, and she figured it was having some effect on her. The strange sunlight that was warm and bright, but somehow false; the constant hum of energy that drove everyone about their business, the silent surge that no one had to see to sense and know it for what it was--the deep magic that kept this place alive, a place that somehow, only she was able to maintain. The spinning got worse, and despite her best efforts to clear her head, she couldn’t hear Black anymore, answer his questions, or keep herself from her swift greeting with the wooden floor.


	4. Homesickness

How long she’d fallen asleep for, she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t in the library any more.

She opened her eyes and felt like she was floating, not quite alive, but not quite dead. She felt completely detached from her body, but knew somehow, that she was still there, still whole. Her head throbbed painfully, and she vaguely remembered hitting it on the floor.

She recognized her surroundings after a moment. She was back in her little home, in her bed, and though she recognized it, it had changed in the short time she’d been absent during her testing and studying with Leviathan and Black. There was food on the small table, food that looked real enough, even smelled real, but Rydia had a hard time believing it. Before she could figure out what else had changed, there was a movement in the corner of her eye. She’d come to accept that that was only normal in this place. The movement turned out to be a woman, not Asura, and her hair was long and brown, tied back in several loose braids. Her skin was pale and fine, thin against her fierce, but well formed face. She reminded Rydia of Rosa, but Rosa’s features were softer, more approachable; not as exotic as this woman whose eyes were a chilly blue and pierced Rydia through to the soul. This woman was more than she seemed.

“You’re finally awake,” the woman said, voice cold and exact.

“What happened?” Rydia asked.

“You collapsed out of your chair in the library while Black tutored you. When he couldn’t wake you, Asura was found and she ordered you here. She was angry when she found out you had not been given proper clothing or food. That is why I am here.”

“Who are you?”

“A helper. That is all you need to know.”

“Is that food really for me?”

The woman glanced at the table. “Yes, as is this,” she said, holding up a robe of gray and green.

“This robe?”

“Your clothes are unsuitable, tattered, and old. That leather vest is barely capable of protecting you. New clothes will be fashioned for you, but for now this robe will cover what is left of the old. Come here and sit by the mirror.”

Rydia did as she was told, too tired to refuse. The woman slipped the robe over Rydia’s head and arms and went about checking its proportions, seeing how well it fit her while Rydia watched in the mirror.

She felt slightly ridiculous in this new garment that covered her old clothes. It was long and covered her feet, but it was when Rydia looked at her face in the mirror that she was truly grateful for the hood. She was thin, thinner than she ever remembered, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was a mess of tangled green curls, tossed about by the sea and left to dry that way. She wanted immediately to cover herself completely and disappear from sight.

“The robe fits. It should suit you for now,” the woman noted after her inspection.

Rydia looked up at her, having forgotten she was there. She forced herself to look at her reflection without thinking and finally noticed the color of the robe she had been offered. Gray with green hems. She knew these colors, but from where she didn’t know.

            “Now you must eat something. I hear you endured a shipwreck, so you must be exhausted and need to regain your strength.”

            Rydia wandered to the table where she nearly fell onto her stool, and took fresh bread from the basket on the table. It was still warm and it smelled delicious. Rydia savored her first bite, feeling her stomach rest better with something in it. Next she took cheese and fruit and a cup of water, and when she was finished, the woman vanished into a corner of the small house where a screen had been placed.

            Rydia could only guess at what was back there and waited for the woman to return. The woman answered the unasked question.

            “There is a tub filled with water there. You may bathe and then you are to come to the library where you will speak again to his majesty, Leviathan. Will you be alright by yourself?”

            Rydia nodded. “Thank you,” she said, grateful, and aware that not saying anything would be rude and would hurt her standing with the creatures here.

            The cold woman left her alone in the small house, leaving her to tend to herself, and, after Rydia counted some fingers, realizing that it had been since Mist that she’d had a chance to decently bathe. There hadn’t been time for any kind of conveniences on her journey with Cecil, a journey that now seemed so far away in her memory. Setting her grief aside she gladly removed the newly acquired robe and other garments and felt the soothing power of the fresh, warm water as she stepped into the small tub. Months of dirt and grime sloughed off her skin, dirt that even the raging waters of the sea had failed to remove completely. Even the salt that had dried her young skin so that it was cracked and rough, came off in the water. Feeling refreshed, Rydia re-dressed herself and made sure to put the robe back on.

            She took another few minutes to look around her room. Something else was different about it besides the mirror, food, and tub. She wanted to know what it was, and finally discovered it hanging by the door. A whip, a long whip with a frayed end the color of ivy, was curled up on a peg next to her door. Beside it was a brace of daggers. Were these for her use? She never had discovered what had become of her bow, even though she still couldn’t hit anything with it if she wanted to.

            She looked at the table and noticed a towel laying there. She picked it up and pressed the water out of her hair, not finding a brush to straighten it properly. With those final measures she left her little house and headed for the library, uncertain of what would be talked of once she got there.  

            The look on Leviathan’s face was enough to make her quail. She had no need to reach the throne room, the mighty summon was in the first room of the library, scrutinizing her darkly the moment she opened the door.

            With eyes wide at an unspoken terror, Rydia scanned the room and saw Black sitting beside Leviathan. His expression too was grim.

            “Little one,” Leviathan boomed, and the danger in his tone was obvious. “You took a great risk in lying to Black and to myself. Lying is not something we appreciate here. What is your reason for this behavior? That you would slander our hospitality with your thoughtless words.”

            The color drained from Rydia’s face. She had not expected this in the slightest.

            “I—”

            “You what?” Leviathan demanded.

            “I hoped that you might let me go if you thought I was more advanced,” she answered truthfully, though her voice quavered slightly.

            “More advanced? Didn’t you think that when you couldn’t read the greater texts we’d have figured it out? You are not to be wasting time. Your path is long and difficult and you have no time to waste.”

            “What happens now?” she asked, afraid to know the answer.

            “You will sleep on this. Tomorrow morning your training begins early and swiftly. There is no time for lying, no time for dawdling. The more you delay us, the more you delay yourself. That is your punishment. For each thoughtless act, you will make up for it in time, time spent here. Then, perhaps, you will learn patience.”

            Rydia tried to keep the desperate tears from her eyes as she nodded resolutely and left the library silently, returning to her home. The sun was gone, wherever it had come from it was back where it had come. She stepped through the door of her house and closed it tight. Then, on her bed she flung herself over the blankets and cried. Didn’t they know what keeping her here was doing to her?

            The pounding on her door brought her awake with a start. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and walked to the door, opening it to find Black waiting impatiently for her. She stared at him, waiting for him to say something.

            “Get yourself ready, bring the whip and daggers and come with me,” he ordered.

            She frowned but retreated into the house to gather the things he’d said. She returned to the door with the whip looped around her shoulder. It fell down to her knees and the daggers were precariously slipped into a belt she had found.

            The cat eyed her strangely and then bounded off again, taking a different route than the day before. Rydia observed the dim light and wondered if this was what they considered a sunrise. Black led her through the un-crowded streets, as it seemed no one else was awake, and to another small house. He commanded her to wait for him, and he jumped up to a window and slipped inside. After a decent length of time Rydia heard noise from inside the house and then the door swung open, a large burly man emerging with flaming red hair and fiery eyes that for a human were peculiarly gold. Rydia threw the hood of her cloak up to hide her face, but could feel the man’s gaze on her anyway.

            “This is the one?” he asked, his voice a rumbling sound.

            Black nodded.

            “Alright, come with me,” he grumbled, running a hand through his unruly locks, and moving away from his house with thudding footsteps. Rydia followed obediently after, and their destination was at last one she recognized. Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know, but it was the arena of her testing the day before.

            The man walked away from her, shaking his limbs. He was wearing thick leathers, one layer over the other and his arms were wrapped with chords that came all the way down to his hands.

            “Attack me!” he bellowed, suddenly assuming a warrior’s stance.

            Rydia almost fell over backwards. Attack him? He was practically four times her size! She looked behind her to see if Black had anything to say but the cat had already slinked off elsewhere.

            When she didn’t move, the man relaxed and shook his head, staring at her with those curious golden eyes.

            “What’s the matter with you, can’t you follow a simple instruction?”

            Rydia numbly nodded her head.

            “Attack me!” he shouted again, once more reassuming his pose.

            She slipped the whip off of her shoulder and let the end fall to the floor with a thump. She had never seen a whip used before, but she had heard about them—how the Toroian’s of the mountains above Mist used them to herd animals and to fend off beasts. She didn’t have the slightest idea of how to hold it.

            The man was boring her down with his eyes, an anger building there that Rydia was afraid to see unleashed. She picked up the whip and walked towards him, keeping the weapon between them. When she was close enough, she lifted the whip and flung the end in his direction, letting it gently brush past his leg and fall back to the ground.

            She stood there, mute. For a moment they simply stood there, a dumb silence hanging over them. Then he laughed. He laughed so hard that he doubled over, holding his thighs, his hair moving around like lit flames dancing. An instant indignation rose in Rydia. Why was he laughing at her? She’d never used a whip before, and to her credit, she _had_ hit him.

            “That was it? That was _it_?” he hooted.

            Rydia was hurt, embarrassed and angry. “Stop laughing!” she shouted. “I’m only seven! I’ve never seen a whip before in my life! I don’t want to hurt anyone, so why are you laughing!”

            “That was the most pathetic attack I’ve ever seen!”

            Rydia gritted her teeth and stamped her foot on the ground. “Stop it!”

            The man’s laughter gradually stopped and he paused to consider her for a moment. “Take your whip and try again.”

            For the next several hours, the burly man instructed Rydia with the whip. He showed her how to hold it, how to swing it, and ultimately, not to hit herself with it by accident. Once she had learned the basics of the weapon she was ordered again and again to strike him. No matter how well she could hold it, she just didn’t have the strength and her attacks fell weakly to the ground.

            Her instructor followed her slow progress with a sharp tongue and smart remarks, and by the end of a certain technique, her patience was running low.

            “Is that all you have, little girl?” he asked derisively. “Giving up so soon?”

            She was too tired to comment, so she glared at him instead.

            “Maybe this will get you to attack me!” he snarled, lunging toward her and knocking her around at the shoulders. He spun and wheeled around her, pushing her over and tugging her hair. She couldn’t see where he was and he was too close to hit. Finally, he got in her face and growled at her.

            The move caught her off guard and she fell backwards a step, her arms up defensively as she instinctively chanted words. An ice spell flew from her lips and hit the man straight in the face. He turned bright red and a strong arm came flailing out as he bellowed in rage.

            His arm caught Rydia in the shoulder and sent her flying. She landed hard, the wind instantly knocked out of her, and hit her head on the ground before she could brace herself. The bruise from her fall the day before exploded with pain and the next thing Rydia knew, everything was black.

 

            “She’s still alive. Careful with her head.”

            Rydia heard the voices as if they were from far away. She opened her eyes but couldn’t move. She groaned but wasn’t sure if it was she who made the sound.

            “Look, she’s awake!” another voice chimed in.

            Rydia’s eyes focused and they fell first on Black, then a host of other faces.

            “His majesty won’t like this at all,” a woman said.

            Eventually the feeling returned to Rydia’s limbs.

            “Don’t try to get up,” a voice told her.

            She complied and allowed herself to be lifted up. Dizzy and confused by what had just happened.

            They carried her out of the arena as the sun blazed above her. She felt tears in her eyes. Angry tears. Tears of injustice. He had provoked her, and she had defended herself.

            She was carried back to her house and put onto her bed. Her head still throbbed, and now it hurt in another place too.

            She heard murmurs of repercussions, of consequences for the day’s actions. She closed her eyes, not wanting to consider what would happen when Leviathan would come to reprimand her.

            “Go away,” she said without realizing.

            The other voices ceased.

            “Get out,” she repeated, more forceful this time.

            The silence deepened.

            “Get out and leave me alone!” she half screamed, the tears flowing freely down her face.

            Her command had the desired effect and everyone left her small house and left her alone. Somehow finding the energy, she stumbled over to her door and bolted it shut. She didn’t want anyone getting in. She collapsed next to the door and cried. Somehow, and soon, she was going to show them that they couldn’t keep her here.

            It was time to escape.

 


	5. A Plan Begins

 

            Without realizing it, Rydia had fallen asleep at the door. Her cheeks felt tight with dried tears. She would have stayed where she was, too frustrated and embarrassed to get up, but it was her stomach that protested. Reluctantly she pulled herself off the floor and walked to the table where food was still laid out.

            “Go away!” she shouted, feeling her anger twist the pit of her stomach.

            “Open the door!” Black’s voice called.

            “I don’t want to talk to you!”

            For a moment there was silence, and she hoped he’d gone away.

            “Open the door, summoner!”

            “No!”

            “Your presence is required!”

            “I don’t care! You can keep your speeches, just leave me alone and go away!”

            She waited a few more minutes, expecting to hear another comment past the door, but none came.

            She exhaled in relief when she realized the cat had finally left her alone. She wondered how much time she had before he or anyone else came back. Now more than ever she needed to get away. There had to be some way to get out of this place, she thought, looking around her room for any clues.

            She left the table and walked the perimeter of the room, looking into every corner, checking for things she could use.

            When she reached the very back of her house she noticed an unusual heap of objects, and glimpsing through them, a small handle. It was covered by rolled up rugs, poles and other discarded items. Rydia pushed them away and jiggled the handle. It was covered in dust and didn’t move.

            She pulled and tugged until finally the door swung open. A shower of dust powdered her as she coughed her way through the opening into a small chamber no larger than a closet. Once her eyes adjusted to the poor light, she noticed yet another handle to her left.

            She tugged, pulled, and yanked at the handle, but the door didn’t budge an inch. As a last resort she threw her shoulders against the wood and with no small amount of surprise, found the door and herself with it, flung outward.

            She squinted as the sun blinded her eyes while she steadied herself and tried to figure out what had happened. The blasted door required a push, not a pull. Looking around, she quickly discovered that she had emerged behind her house to a narrow alley. There was a stone wall directly behind her and behind that was a backdrop of green fields. Wanting a better look, she jumped up onto the wall and scanned the horizon. It seemed as if no matter where she looked, the horizon was always the same, nothing but green hills. She went to swing her feet over, but the moment her feet crossed the wall, the fields became a rippled image like a reflection in disturbed water. Rydia immediately drew her feet back, somewhat alarmed.

            She watched the ripples spread and dissipate; then poked the fields curiously with a finger to the same effect.

            So she had been right after all. None of this was real. Her sense of awe that someone could maintain such a powerful illusion just barely overshadowed her disappointment that none of it was real. But why did she see green fields? Why not something else?

            She gave up on that escape route, and looked along the edge of the wall, feeling sheltered behind her house where no one could see her. There was another building a little ways down from hers and between the two buildings were barrels and crates. Rydia snuck out and headed for the barrels.

She poked a cautious eye just enough above the barrels to see but not be seen, and noticed that there weren’t too many creatures on the streets. She decided to use this to her advantage. Quietly, she returned to the back door of her house and went back inside. She was going to need as many supplies as she could carry.

            Her supplies and pack from her travels with Cecil were lost to the ocean. She would have to start over.

            She looked over at her bed and her eyes widened. There laying over the sheets and blankets was a neatly folded stack of clothing. The woman who had visited her the previous evening had done as she’d said. There was even a small leather vest.

            There were a few oil lamps across the room and she lit them, letting the light create the illusion that someone was inside the house, something she’d use for later.

            With everything packed, she pulled a rug from the back corner and threw it onto her bed, covering it with blankets.

            She used to do this some mornings when she’d sneak out with the other village children to play in the groves just outside of sight of the buildings. She hoped it would work as well here as it did there.

            She tried to make the rug look as human as possible beneath the blanket.

            When twilight arrived she went into motion. She grabbed her pillowcase, threw on her cloak, took her whip and daggers, set the lamps, and went to the back door, pushing the rugs back towards the door to make it look undisturbed.

            With one backwards glance at the front door she crept through the back.

            There was no blinding sunlight this time, simply deepening darkness. It was quiet in the land of the summoned. She stole around to the corner of her house, looking past the edge. Nothing. No one.

            She slipped behind the barrels and crates and sprinted for the narrow space behind the next building over.

            She followed the wall until it ended and found herself in a patch of light given off by a lamppost.

            She put up the hood of her cloak and emerged from the shadows into the open road. She was half expecting something to stop her, but as she took more and more steps into the open, she gained confidence.

            Where was everyone?

            She quickly checked to see if anyone was looking and walked over to it.

            There was the unusual surge through her body as there had been the last time she’d used it, and when she emerged on the other side, the city around her was completely different. In fact, she was still inside it.

            Cautiously, she looked around. There were a few creatures here, but not many. There were more lights lit in the houses than anywhere else, so she imagined they were all inside for the evening.

            She looked for another plaque, and had to look over the edge of one of the tiers to spot one. She had a ways to travel before she could reach it.

            Keeping her hood up, she walked casually down the road and down another set of stairs in the direction of the second plaque. No one questioned her on the way, but she still checked to see if anyone was looking before stepping onto it.

            This time the surroundings were the ones she wanted to see--the strange cave with the glowing floor and vine walls.

            She stayed close to the wall and crept away from the plaque. She remembered the monsters that lurked around the corners and she wanted to avoid them at all costs.

            As she continued her escape, the passageways became more complex and more difficult to travel through. Out of curiosity she had even taken a strip of cloth and thrown it into one of the glowing pits to discover that the liquid in the holes would melt whatever it touched. This revelation caused her to be more cautious with her steps, and to jump over the unusual holes, adding more time to her journey.

            The extra time and effort made her muscles scream, and she was growing exhausted as this journey continued on, but she still went about as quietly as she could.

            When a monster finally did come into view she hid herself or went a different way, but soon it became more difficult to do even that, as there became more of them.

            She snuck past as quickly as she could manage, but she feared looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was following, and resolved just to keep pushing forward.

            Something else she discovered while she crept along was that the walls had passages in them. She could tell because the vines were thinner, and figured it might be a good idea to use them to her advantage.

            She didn’t see any monsters there so she took the hidden paths to keep out of sight. With this new shelter, her pace quickened and she relaxed, feeling better the farther from the summons she got. She just might escape after all!

            She approached the wall and looked through the vines. There was only darkness on the other side and as she looked to her left, she suddenly found a pair of eyes staring back at her.

            She shrieked and stepped back, and the eyes that had been coolly studying her before, popped wide open in a snarl. It was a tall and slender creature and it was red with curved fangs sticking out of its mouth.

            Rydia ran back through the secret passageway in a panic. She could hear the creature running after her, and it made her more desperate to get away.

            Back in the main part of the cave she sprinted over the glowing pits and ran without thinking.

            Rounding another turn she nearly ran into a woman with long golden hair.

            Rydia paused long enough to see her stand up on eight hairy legs that resembled a spider’s, and then she was off again, hearing a rumbling and vibration beneath her feet as the woman screamed piteously.

            Her escape wasn’t turning out as smoothly as she hoped.

            It felt as though she’d been running for miles and still she thought she could hear something following her.

            Fear overrode caution and when she ran through a large cavern, she ran straight through the middle and gained the attention of six figures wearing black armor.

            For a moment she thought they were soldiers of Baron, but through their visors their eyes gleamed red, the same as the floor. She came to an immediate halt and fumbled at her side for her whip. The warriors had drawn their swords and were advancing. Rydia couldn’t reach her whip fast enough. There was nowhere for her to run and no way she could win.

            As a last resort she began chanting the lightning spell, hoping that wearing metal, it would damage them severely. She nearly uttered the last word when the cavern exploded in light, and electricity sizzled and popped all around her.

            Her eyes were wider than they’d ever been before—she could cast something so powerful? When the light vanished the warriors were gone. In their place was a bent figure in robes. He clutched a twisted and gnarled staff and his beard was white and flowing. His eyes seemed to glitter and as he looked at her, she began to understand. It was his magic, not hers, that had saved her.

            “Who are you?” she asked, her voice small.

            “I am Ramuh.”

            She knew that name. He was another summon. They’d found her, she realized, her heart sinking.

            “Did you know you were surrounded?” he asked her.

            She shook her head.

            “Not a wise thing to do for one so small. They might have eaten you, _worse_ , they might have let you live. There are nasty things to be said about living in the enchantment of a monster. Enchantments are nasty, yes. Death would have been preferable.”

            Rydia furrowed her brow.

            “Ah, but you see, you were surrounded and in trouble. Lucky you I was here, prowling for a rogue summoner. I heard you calling on the lightning spirit and decided it was an excellent excuse to display my power. Are you impressed?”

            Rydia, confused, startled, and tired, nodded her head.

            “Very good. What are you called anyway? I’ve never seen a creature like you in the underground.”

            “My name is Rydia.”

            “What element are you, my dear? You look like a forest element, something with a distaste for fire.”

            Rydia was amazed. Her “element” assignment was strangely accurate.

            “I’m not any element,” she corrected him.

            “No element? You’re a non-elemental? Lucky you! You have no opposites, or obvious weaknesses?

            What was he talking about?

            “I’m—I’m a human.”

            “You seem a bit young to have become a human summon…”

            “I’m not a summon! I’m a summoner!

            This time _his_ eyes went wide.

            “Ah! That’s where you are! You had everyone worried.”

            “Worried? They were worried about me?”

            “Yes, you see they thought you’d been killed.”

            “Oh.”

            “You know it was a nice little surprise you gave Ifrit this morning. Sending a little ice in his face.”

            Hearing that her heart sank a little farther, remembering the scolding she was going to receive.

            “It was unfortunate for you that of all things, he hates ice the most. Very hot tempered--you were on this bad side that time. Serves him right though, the big oaf. He needs to be cooled down every once in a while. In fact, I’ve never seen Leviathan so close to cracking a smile.”

            Here Rydia looked up at him, startled again.

            “You mean, Leviathan almost smiled? He wasn’t mad?”

            He stared at her, confused.

            “Angry? No, the only one he was angry with was Ifrit for losing his temper. It was a nasty blow he gave you.”

            Rydia’s mood suddenly brightened, but she had to ask the dreaded question;

            “Are you going to take me back?”

            He nodded.

            “Can we make one more trip first?”

            “And what is that, Rydia of the forest?”

            “Can I see the outside of the cave?

            He frowned. “Well there’s nothing too impressive about it…don’t know why you’d want to see it.”

            “But I really do!” she persisted.

            “Oh all right, come to me, child.”

            She walked towards the old summon and took hold of his staff as he directed her.

            Suddenly she felt herself inside of a warp spell, the first time since Tellah’s casting of it all that time ago in Damcyan.

            When it was finished the landscape was so alien it was hard to realize it was real. All around the entrance was rust colored earth that formed a flat island. Beyond that were miles and miles of yellow and orange. She could tell it was hot because of the shimmering air, but the strangest part was the sky. It was completely brown and swirled like clouds of smoke.

            “Where is this?” she breathed.

            “The underground. The domain of the dwarves and other manner of folk.”

            “Where?”

            “The _underground_. Don’t you listen to your elders?”

            Rydia sighed. Even if she had gotten this far she never would have escaped the island.

            “I’m ready to go back now.”

            “Very well.”

            The second time in the warp field ended in the summoned land. A few curious faces turned to watch when Rydia arrived with Ramuh.

            “There’s nothing here to look at, do as you were,” he instructed them.

            To Rydia he muttered, “You’d think they’d never been summoned before, the way they react to a human.”

            “Why do they—why do the summons fear humans?”

            “They fear a foolish master, an abuser of power. Not all humans are as understanding as summoners, and not all summoners are as good as others.”

            “They think I’m bad?”

            “Frankly, dear, they don’t know what you are, and they won’t trust you until they know your character.”

            “How are they supposed to know my character?”

            “A test.”

            “A test? I test them?”

            “No, they test _you_. Prove your spirit to them and they will aide you or reject you.”

            Rydia considered what he said. If she was to become a high summoner as Leviathan intended, she would have to gain the trust of the summons here and that would be no small feat. That could take years! Her training had suddenly taken on a new perspective.

Ramuh had begun walking without her and turned back to look at her with a flash of impatience.

“Come along now, Leviathan and Asura would like to see you, and I think you’ve kept them waiting long enough.”

            Rydia swallowed the lump in her throat and followed Ramuh to the library.


	6. The Truth About Summons

 

         The door to the library swung open yet again of the several times it had already done so during Rydia’s short stay. Leviathan stood just inside, staring down at her with a peculiar expression on his face.         




“Summoner—“

            “My name is Rydia,” she interrupted.

            Leviathan raised an eyebrow and continued.

            “Rydia,” he began again, testing the sound of her name, “We have been unfair to you. We haven’t told you much about ourselves or of your people. I fear we pushed you faster than we should have, so let us start over, shall we? How much do you know of your own past?”

            She paused, caught off guard by his question. “Not much?”

            “Will you listen to a story?”

            She shrugged. “Is it any good?”

            He gestured to a stool and she sat on it, waiting for him to continue. Ramuh tipped his head to her and left the room, leaving her alone with the summon king and the silent book shelves of the library.

            “Did you know there was once a time without magic?”

Rydia shook her head. In fact she couldn’t imagine a life with no magic at all.

“There was once a time before the crystals, and before their magical influence over our planet. Before the crystals there were no creatures of magic or wielders of it either. But when the crystals appeared on the earth, magic was born, changing the world forever. Back then the magic of the crystals was so strong, it permeated everything. Very little escaped the effects of the crystals, they nearly made themselves a part of every living being. It was the summoners who first learned to utilize the magic of the crystals with great proficiency, and it is because of their proficiency that we still exist here today. The summons ourselves, are spirit creatures. We were born of the crystals’ magic and animals of the wild; dumb, indifferent, instinctual…We, the few of us that are, were changed by the crystals’ powers and became sentient beings, beings who could think just as the humans could, and could bend the elements to our will. We lived among the people of the world in its ancient state, and were revered as “gods”. But there came a time in our history when the crystals’ power that was so strong at first, began to diminish, and the influence of the crystals on the land also began to fade. With the crystals growing quiet, we too began to feel the effects. Our strength nearly failed us, and we went to the summoner tribe for help.

            We had often met with the summoners in the ancient times and exchanged our knowledge of the magic in the world, so we trusted them in our time of need. Hearing our peril, the summoners created a way to keep us safe from the effects of the fading crystals--a containment spell. Into it, they captured and sealed what power of the crystals they could, and into that spell they also placed us. It became its own dimension, a magical space within the physical world. We could shape it however, and take it wherever we wished. There, we were safe from the withering magic of the world--the magic that created us that now would undo us. But there were a few who were greedy. Some summoners who had helped create the containment spell, purposely spoke the wrong encantations, and it is because of this, that we are now bound to the mercy of the summoners today. The error that they placed into our world was a weakening effect, that without the call of a summoner’s magic, our world would eventually leak magical essence, what we need to survive, and collapse, leaving us to the ravages of a world without enough magic to sustain us.”

            “But I don’t understand. There are monsters in my world that use magic still, why are they still there, but you are not?”

            “Monsters…they are still creatures of the world with only basic magical abilities. They have not been fully transformed as we were. Those that wield greater powers than monsters are alive in the human world only by the will of a master. They are slaves, bound to the call of only one voice. We summons have some choice, but it is in our best interests to obey.”

            “So you need an enchantment from a summoner to survive? Why just the summoners?”

            “It was the summoners who made the spell, it is the summoners only who can keep the spell alive. Every time they summon us, a part of their summoning spell infuses the containment spell and strengthens us. But, we can only receive the magical essence if we answer in return, and this has led to many tragedies.”

            “What kinds of tragedies?”

            “Cruel masters. Because of our loyalty to the summoners for keeping us alive, we answer their calls, but in doing so, we occasionally become subject to an unwise master, one who uses our powers for destruction and greed. Our relationship to the summoners is both a blessing and a curse.”

            “Leviathan, I have another question.”

            “What is that?”

            “You came to my world without being summoned. How did you do that?”

            “I came because it was urgent. Our closest connection to the summoners for many years had been through Mist. Her summoning gave us the power we needed to live, and the summoners used her for protection. When her summoner died unexpectedly and no one else called upon us, except for one small voice, I decided it was time to leave the realm of the spell and return to the world, just briefly, to find this small voice. I am the king of the summons, and as such I have the most power. I can survive in your world longer than the rest, but I do not pretend that it does not harm me. I can only do this rarely, and then I must return to the containment spell to rest and recover.”

            “So you need me to summon you?”

            “Yes. But first you must learn how, and we will teach you. In you we hope to find a kinder, wiser master, and perhaps one who would set us free.”

            Rydia’s eyes opened wide. “Me? Setting you free?”

            Leviathan nodded. “You are the only one who can learn the ways of magic well enough to change the spell that binds us to the human world.”

“So you really have no choice?”

            “I already told you we have a choice. But our survival depends on accepting a summoner’s call. It is in our best interests.”

            “But is there anything good about any of this?”

            “We take the time of our summonings to enjoy the real world again. To feel the sun after so many years without it, or the waves, and the mountains, and fields…You don’t understand how much you can miss these things when you’ve been without them for so long.”

            “But only with a summoner.”

            “Yes.”

            “How am I supposed to help you--by summoning you? Isn’t there another way to keep you alive?”

            “We do not know of another way. But there is one who lives above the power of humans. He is our over king and he lives off of the power of the stars. Perhaps he has found a way to escape the quieting of the crystals. Ultimately, our goal is survival, but we have another motive as well. We are preparing you for war. All of our lives--human, animal, and summon, are in danger. Someone plans to do something evil with the crystals, and we are powerless unless we are called forth by a summoner. Without the crystals there will be no magic for the summoners to draw upon and no magic to keep us alive in turn. I spared your friends’ lives because it was evident they had no intention of helping this threat accomplish its goals. I knew this because of the nature of your characters during the few summonings you performed. I was relieved that you had taken the sea during your journey or I might never have found you.”

            “You learned about me from when I summoned?”

            “Yes. The chocobo you summoned isn’t a dumb animal, but one with tremendous speed and power, unlike its counterparts, the ones you may have seen or ridden in your world. He is one of the least powerful of all summons, but among his former kin he is very strong. When he returned to us after his summonings, he informed us of who you were and where you were going. He mentioned you were on a quest to stop the crystals from being stolen, and I knew at once I must come to find you.”

            Rydia wrinkled her brow, thinking.

            “You said you need magical essence to survive? How does that work?”

            Leviathan folded his arms and thought of a way to explain himself. “Think of air, little one. You need air to live, and without it, you die. Magic for us is the same as air for you. Without magic we also die. We are made out of it, and without enough of it, we die. Somehow the crystals stopped giving out as much of it as they used to, and it thinned to the point where we were no longer able to stay in your world and live as we once did. When I went to find you in your world, think of it this way, I could only search for you for as long as I could hold my breath.”

            Rydia nodded in understanding and then thought of something else.

            “Couldn’t I have learned all this on my own, though?”

            Leviathan shook his head. “Not enough time, and there was no one to teach you.”

            “But how is there more time here?” she asked.

            “This place abounds in magic. Everything you see, touch, smell and hear has been infused with it. So many years of summoning spells has added a unique flavor to the magic of this world. Time flows differently than in the human world. We can prepare you here while little time will have passed for your companions.”

            “So I’m here to learn what I would have at home in Mist? What do I need to learn still?”

            “Powerful spells. You must also earn the respect of the other summons so you may be able to summon them to your aide. You see, we will answer your call, but first you must know how, and one way is to ask the summon themself how they are to be called. We have survived for many years off of the calling of lesser summons, and it is rare to have a summon of greater power called forth, but it seems the time has come for all of us to come to the aide of the humans. Another reason for the most powerful of us not being summoned is the physical strain to maintain us in your world. We require more magical essence, and a human body can only handle so much strain. You must be physically capable to handle this if you hope to succeed and help your friends.”

            “What if I say no? What if I don’t want to fight a war?”

            “The war is already upon you. You are a part of it whether you like it or not. And if you refuse the summonings, you put the lives of all of us at risk.”

            “And even after all this, everything I’ve put you through, you’d still train me?”

            “You have a habit of finding danger and getting into trouble, but your heart is pure. I think you have the potential for great things, Rydia of Mist. If you have no more questions, then I think it would be wise for you to rest from your adventure in the caves and we will talk again tomorrow. Does this suit you?”

            “Yes,” she answered, yawning. “but one more thing. Your majesty, I _will_ go home, won’t I?”

            A small smile flickered across the lips of the old summon.

            “You will. I promise you. Now get some rest before you fall asleep standing up,” he ordered, helping her off of her stool and out of the library.

            When she was just outside of the door, she turned, sleep already in her eyes, and looked at Leviathan again.

            “You’re really not mad at me?”

            “No! Now, to bed!”

            As she trudged back to her new home, she didn’t have a chance to see Leviathan shut the door and laugh as if he hadn’t for ages.

 


	7. Chapter 7

When Rydia returned to her little house she found two glowing eyes watching her from across the room.

            She paused, her heart catching a little in her chest from the memory of another pair of glowing eyes the night before. These eyes merely blinked at her.

            “Black?” she ventured, leaning into the darkness.

            “You’re back. Thought you might have died,” came his customary blunt response.

            She eased back in relief, opening the door a little further so that a large stream of light pierced the dark room and illuminated the irascible cat. In the dim light she saw him twitch his tail.

            “You were worried?”

            “Concerned.”

            Rydia stared at him unmoved.

            “Thank you, Black.”

            He made a noise somewhere between a purr and a growl, and something about his tone gave Rydia some sense of satisfaction.

            “It’s nothing,” he said, jumping to his feet and bounding past her out the door.

            Rydia merely shook her head with a touch of a smile on her lips, and took a moment to look around the room.  Everything was just as she’d left it, not a thing disturbed from her flight early in the morning. At least she knew now that Black hadn’t been making his own arrangements for the house. The bed was still a pile of blankets and sheets, and the fruit from the table was still missing. She couldn’t believe that it had been less than a day since she had tried to escape--it felt like it had been years. She felt that her future had been decided in only a matter of hours, and it weighed heavily on her shoulders. She would be here for years, training for a war that grown-ups she didn’t know or understand were fighting. Years would pass before Leviathan had said she would be ready. How much time would have passed for Cecil and the others, she wondered, anxiously chewing the corner of her mouth. Would they be wondering where she was, or would they think she was dead? What would they think if she returned to them an adult herself, but only a week had passed for them. Her eyes absently roved the rest of the room, thinking about how differently she had thought about all these things only the night before. She had already discovered there was no way out of the caves, no way of returning to her companions. They would have to fight on by themselves, and she would be here waiting for the day when she could return to them.

            Her eyes once again rested on her bed and she walked over to it and pulled the blankets apart, slipping beneath the covers. They were delightfully warm and comforting, so far from the dark and dangerous tunnels of the caverns that buried this place in secrecy. She drew the covers up to her chin and was asleep within minutes; cloak, boots, and all.

 

            “Are you going to sleep the entire day away, or are you going to wake up?”

            Rydia’s eyelids were leaden but her ears were sharp. Even so, she refused to get up.

            “We have work to do! Get up!”

            Little by little she opened her eyes. She knew it was Black from his clipped tone, but she didn’t expect him to be as close as he was once she fully opened her eyes. The proximity of his glinting golden eyes surprised her so much that she shrieked and pushed him away.

            “Good morning to you too,” he growled.

            “Black? What on earth are you doing! You don’t wake someone up by staring at them from an inch away!”

            “I was convinced that you humans were mostly deaf while sleeping. I wanted to make sure you were awake.”

            “If you want me awake, not dead, don’t do it again!”

            Black tilted his head back in an arrogant grin. Rydia had never been completely fond of cats, but now she was convinced they were pure evil. She scowled at him and crawled out of bed.

            “What work will we be doing today? Please tell me you don’t have any more of those horrible books for me to read.”

            He followed her across the room, keeping just a few steps behind, reminding Rydia of a true house cat.

            “Those ‘horrible’ books will be coming back soon enough, but we won’t be touching them for awhile. First you need to learn how to read, and I don’t have the patience to teach you right now.”

            “What then?”

            “We’ll be teaching you the basics of black magic.”

            She looked at him over her shoulder.

            “I thought I already knew the basics of black magic.”

            He stared up at her reprovingly. “The very basic of basics, yes. Leviathan’s challenge to you a few days ago was to see how much you knew and to see your technique. Yours are some of the more rudimentary powers we’ve seen.”

            Rydia tossed her hair angrily. “Rudimentary. I don’t even know what that means, and I don’t care.”

            “It means you have work to do. Now hurry up so we can begin.”

            She cast a sideways glance at him. “I can’t learn anything without any food in my stomach.”

            He rolled his eyes, “Humans…”

            Rydia ignored him and retrieved an apple out of the pillow case she had stuffed with food for her escape. She bit into the juicy fruit and devoured it with relish. It had been ages since she’d eaten anything. All the while she was aware of Black being eaten up by his own impatience. When she was finished, she wiped off her chin and tossed the core into the bowl in the center of her little table.

            “What will I be needing for today’s training?” she inquired, her hands resting stubbornly on her hips. “Because none of you are going to get any help out of me if I’m banged around or dead tired.”

            “Yes, we realize now that the young of humans cannot be pushed as hard as adults,” re replied flatly. “We won’t be as hard on you for now.”

            “What do I need, then?” she repeated, tapping her foot while she waited for Black to respond.

            “You’ll need only your mind and an open pair of ears,” a warm voice from the door supplied.

            Rydia and Black turned to see Ramuh standing in the doorway.

            “Ramuh!” Rydia exclaimed.

            Black scowled. “I thought you weren’t coming today.”

            Ramuh merely smiled, mischief written on his face. “Now, now, my young student, don’t get ahead of yourself. You may be the youngest one here and Leviathan’s personal messenger, but I have decided this situation needs more careful handling and could be a useful training experience for the both of you.”

            “You’re a student?” Rydia laughed, she could barely contain her amusement.

            Black turned away from her haughtily. “I still know a great deal more than you do, human.”

            Ramuh waved a finger at the cat. “Careful, now. She’s called Rydia, and you may someday owe her your life.”

            “She can’t save my life if she doesn’t start working quickly,” he retorted.

            “Impatient as ever,” Ramuh muttered. “Rydia, if you are ready, come with me.”

            Rydia looked herself over. She was still wearing her clothes and she seemed to have everything she needed so she nodded and walked toward Ramuh and out the door.

            The unusual sun hung overhead at what appeared to be the noon position and Rydia squinted when she looked up at Ramuh before her.

            “I’m going to take you to a place that you probably haven’t seen here before, so follow me closely and don’t wander off anywhere when I’m not looking.”

            Rydia nodded slowly. She was through wandering off in this place.

            “Very good. Come along now. Oh, and Black, please try to limit your aggravating comments to a minimum.”

            The cat sniffed, but held his tongue.

            Ramuh then preceded to lead the way through the village, following familiar streets and crossing into the part of the town where small houses like her own lined the road. Ramuh strode between the houses and down the street, walking towards another of the peculiar walls that Rydia had tried to cross only to discover that there was nothing on the other side but illusion.

            Ramuh walked to the end of the road and then touched the portion of wall directly in front of him, causing it to shimmer and change shape, revealing a path through the wall into a beautiful garden.

            Rydia sighed in awe, not realizing until now how much she enjoyed the sight of real trees and grass. Granted, a part of her knew this wasn’t real, but it looked and felt real enough. There were willows and elms, oaks and maples; even a stream fed pond with tall wild flowers growing at its bank.

            “For you, Rydia of the forest. I thought you shouldn’t have to spend your life in a library. Today’s lesson will be here.”

            “Thank you,” she breathed.

            “You’re welcome. You can come in you know,” he beckoned as she stood firmly planted by the wall.

            “How does such a place exist here?”

            A grin quirked the corner of Ramuh’s mouth. “Magic.”

            “But how?” she asked again, stepping into this beautiful place in the middle of such a bleak world.

            “It was a gift, as a matter of fact. A summoner gave us this one day; spoke it into their spell. We have enjoyed it ever since.”

            “A summoner gave this to you?”

            “Yes, one of the most beloved of summoners we have known.”

            “Who?”

            “Her name was Arya.”

            “My mother?” she asked, incredulous.

            “She was young when she did this. She used to summon us to speak of many things and to learn more about us. When she heard that we had no trees or growing things she incorporated this garden into her spell and sent it to us during a summoning. We have cherished this place for as long as we have had it. It is only fitting that you should enjoy it as well.

            “I didn’t know…” Rydia said reverently, as she walked beneath the shade of two huge and unruly oak trees with branches that looked made for climbing.

            There was a slight breeze that blew through the leaves and brushed Rydia’s hair across her face. She swept it away with a smile on her lips.

            “We should begin,” Black interrupted.

            “He’s right. Find someplace to sit, my dear, and we will begin.”

            Rydia obeyed and found a nice cool spot to relax.

            “What do I need to do next?”

            “Just observe what I do,” Ramuh instructed.

            Rydia watched him for hours go through motions and movements, listening to the words he used and the different inflections of his voice that caused the magic to do different things. He was a calm and patient teacher, and when he did something particularly tricky, Rydia asked him to repeat it again for her. Black kept quiet for most of the exercises, contributing only when Ramuh forgot to say something or showing Rydia how to perfect her motions. The afternoon sped past and finally Ramuh decided it was enough for the day. Rydia had learned how to truly cast the spells she already knew, how to do them faster and more efficiently. She also learned a few more by understanding the new words that Ramuh taught her.

            “You have made good progress today. Now that your casting has improved you can move on to more difficult spells. However, I think now is a good time to stop for nourishment.”

            “Nourishment?”

            “Food.”

            Rydia nodded emphatically. She was starving.

            “Wait here. I will return shortly,” he explained, leaving her and Black in the garden together.

            There was silence for a few minutes until finally Rydia had to find out.

            “I didn’t know you were a student.”

            Black looked at her seriously, with a rueful expression on his cat-face. “As he said, I am the youngest here. Ramuh has taken me under his wing to learn more powerful magics. Not all summons are ancient, you know.”

            “I didn’t know, to be honest.”

            A long pause followed, and Rydia was afraid to ask any more questions, but she was surprised when Black spoke without her prompting.

“I was young when it happened. I was a mouser on the castle grounds of Toroia and got too close to the crystal there on one of my runs. I didn’t notice at first, but as time went by I began to change until I was no longer a common cat, but a cat with unusual abilities. The castle staff grew to fear me and threw me out. I never went back. Instead I fled to the summoner village and begged to enter the land of the summoned. Arya agreed to send me and it was then that I arrived and began my tutelage under Ramuh.”

            “Is your name really Black?”

            “No. But you may call me only Black.”

            “How long have you been here, Black?”

            “Nearly one hundred years, the last time I recall.”

            “One hundred years?  You’ve been here that long?”

            “It isn’t really all that long. You get used to it after a while.”

            Rydia sighed. “I could never get used to this.”

            “You will.”

            Rydia considered that. “How long do you think I’ll be here?”

            “I’d say a few years in the least. But remember, a few years here means practically nothing in the world outside the spell.”

            “I guess you’re right.”

            Silence reined between them for a time, and Rydia allowed herself to enjoy the surroundings, thinking about how much this place reminded her of her mother.

            “This garden truly is beautiful.”

            Black deeply inhaled the air. “It is. Arya went to great lengths to find a garden she liked well enough to send here.”

            “How well did you know my mother? I know she sent you here, but you seem to know her better still.”

            “She was a friend to many of us here. She had our trust and the trust of the summoner’s village. That was why she was given the guardianship of the village and why the dragon Mist was bound so closely to her. It was a special relationship they had. The summoning of Mist was intricate, as she served as a guardian of two worlds, not just this one. She was the one we relied on for the sustaining of our home. When she vanished, we assumed something terrible had happened. Nothing like what did happen…”

            “Mist vanished when my mother died.”

            Black nodded. “There are rumors that she lived, but she has not shown herself here and we cannot find her elsewhere. Shortly after Mist’s disappearance, Leviathan went looking for the one summoner who continued to call for aide. What are the odds that it would be Arya’s own daughter…”

            “But if only a month passed between my village and now, how long has it been here since Mist vanished?”

            “It’s been a few years already. We were beginning to lose hope that any summoner would come calling, until about two years ago. Leviathan has been crossing the boundaries of our world and yours for some time trying to find you.”

            “How much longer before this place falls apart?”

  1.             “Before we run out of enough magic essence to survive? I don’t know. But tensions have been on the rise            since the disappearance of Mist.”



            “Do you think…do you think this place will last long enough for me to finish my training?”

            Black looked at her with truthful eyes. “I hope so.”

 

            “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long. Here’s something to eat, and then I think it’s time to rest for the evening,” Ramuh announced, as he approached them with his arms burdened by two baskets of food. He paused when he saw the looks on Rydia and Black’s faces.

            “What’s happened to you two?”

            “Ramuh? Is this world going to fall apart before I can help you?”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “If I can’t summon anyone strong enough, how will any magic keep the containment spell alive?”

             “Your time will come soon enough. We will survive until then. It is the long term we are concerned about, not the short term.”

            “So there’s enough time for me to learn everything I need to know and nothing will happen to anyone here? Then why did you go looking for me so soon?”

            Ramuh creased his brow and glanced at Black.

            “I think you should eat and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes,” he answered, and then looked straight at Rydia, “Do not concern yourself with all of those troubles. We came searching for you as quickly as we could because we knew that whoever destroyed your home might still be searching for you. That is why we brought you here to keep you safe. Now eat your food before Black takes it all for himself.”

            Rydia accepted the food Ramuh offered but ate in silence, she couldn’t help but imagine the entire world crumbling down on top of her and it being completely her fault because she wasn’t quick enough. When she was finished, she brushed the crumbs from her cloak and folded her hands in her lap.

            “Was there anything else?”

            Ramuh studied her face carefully. “Nothing more for today, but listen to me carefully, Rydia, we worried more about the war of your world than we were about ours falling apart. We couldn’t let you perish. The war needs you and if the war is not won, there won’t be much of a world for us to survive in.”

            “What will you teach me tomorrow, then?”

            “We will see.”

            “Ramuh?”

            “Yes?”

            “Do you think Mist is still alive?”

            The old summon folded his arms. “I’m not sure. It’s possible. Many things can happen during a summoning, even one that ends badly. If you’ll excuse me, I have to meet with some others. Black, could you please take her back to her home?”

            Black stood up and bowed his head. “I can do that. What will you have me do afterwards?”

            “I have nothing for you. I’ll see you both early tomorrow morning.”

            Rydia stood up next to Black and watched Ramuh leave the garden. Black turned to Rydia, his eyes warning her to take caution.

            “You shouldn’t have asked about Mist,” he said.

            Rydia was suddenly taken up with alarm. “Why not?”

            “Ramuh and many of the other older ones take her…disappearance, very personally.”

            Rydia felt her nerves strung tight. She hadn’t meant to upset Ramuh, the only one who had shown true concern for her so far.

            “But, Black, do you think that Mist is really out there somewhere? Couldn’t we find her?”

            He trotted on ahead of her. “Keep that thought alive, and just maybe you’ll be the one to find her again.”

            “Do you really think so?”

            Black glanced back at her in challenge. “You’re the only one who can after all!” he answered, bolting down the street away from her.

            “Wait, Black! Not everyone has four legs you know!” she shouted after him, chasing him down the street.

Behind them the beautiful garden melted back into the illusion of the spell, nothing left behind except for a wall with an uninterrupted background of rolling hills as far as the eye could see…


	8. Chapter 8

 

            Rydia chased Black all the way back to her little home. He was incredibly quick, like lightning on four legs. She couldn’t keep up with him, but she knew where he was headed so it didn’t bother her much.

            When she did arrive, out of breath, the door was already ajar. She walked in smiling.

            “Black, that was some—“ she stopped short. There, sitting in a chair near her table was the powerful presence of Asura.

            Rydia stood ramrod straight, completely petrified.

            “Your--your majesty,” she stammered.

            Asura’s cool gaze passed over her, but instead of chilling Rydia to the bone it made her feel as if she were melting with fear.

            “I see your lessons are finished for the day,” Asura began, her voice steady and pedantic. “I need to speak to you, human child.”

            Rydia dared not correct the queen with her name. Asura was scary enough when she wasn’t angry.

            “Please, sit,” the queen of the summons beckoned, offering a chair for Rydia to sit in.

            “Excuse me, your majesty, but where’s Black?”

            Asura’s deep brown eyes penetrated Rydia’s own. “I sent him away. He was not needed.”

            Rydia gulped as she approached the chair intended for her. “What would you like to speak to me about?”

            Asura shifted in her seat, almost as if she wanted to avoid the conversation herself. “Just some things,” she finally answered.

            Rydia remained patient, not saying a word, while Asura found her words.

            “I see you wear the colors of Mist,” the queen observed.

            Rydia’s eyes popped open. The colors of Mist! She knew she had seen the colors of her cloak somewhere before!

            “No matter, it is only fitting that you should wear them as you are the last of your kind. Girl, what I came here to speak to you about…what do you know about us, and what do you know of this place? Or was nothing passed along to you from your mother?”

            “I know only a little, your majesty.”

            “Please, indulge me,” the queen replied.

            Rydia thought for a moment, trying to remember everything she had heard about the summons from her village and from her brief experiences with Black and Ramuh.

            “I know that the summons were once mortal like humans, but the crystals of my world changed them into powerful beings. I don’t know much else.”

            “Have you ever heard of elementals, child?”

            Rydia nodded, but her confusion at the question caused Asura to continue.

            “Then listen carefully, human. Something you must be mindful of is that most things in the world have an opposite. Summons are similar. In this place I’m sure you may have noticed differences among many in what element of choice they use. Ice has an opposite in fire, lightning and water are also such elements. Use caution in whom you use particular spells against, and take heed if you should ever find yourself in a position that demands the casting of a spell of an element opposite to what you are fighting. Do you understand?”

            Rydia nodded.

            “Were you taught any of this before?”

            “A little, yes.”

            “Good. Remember this when you are training. It may save your life someday…”

            “Your majesty, may I ask you something?”

            The queen’s gaze shifted to her again. “What is it?”

            “I had heard that many summons were once animals and other creatures, but what about the ones that look like humans? How did they become summons?”

            The queen seemed to freeze for a moment, indecisive of whether or not she wanted to answer. Finally she stirred, looking away from Rydia into some dark corner of the room.

            “It is strange…for humans to become summons. For some it was a choice, for others it was not. Shiva was one who chose this life. She was a human who lived in the cold and knew its ways very well. She was a young mage when she went in search of the powers of the crystals. Ramuh also…though he was a wood warder who happened to be walking beneath his trees when a lightning storm caught him off guard and he was struck. Little did he know that the lightning storm was the result of one of the crystals, and by being struck, he was able to manipulate the element himself. At least he accepted his role, despite it being thrown upon him.”

            Rydia frowned. “You mean, some didn’t want to become summons?”

            “Some…no.”

            “I didn’t know.”

            “You will find there is much you didn’t know, and I will say no more on humans becoming summons. Simply pay attention to what you are told and remember it. I already gave you my advice and have paid you a visit, and that will be all for now. Perhaps later more will be shared with you on those matters that you found so intriguing, but not now. Know though, that when you are training, every battle must have a strategy if it is to be successful. Otherwise you may find yourself in trouble.”

            “Thank you, your majesty. I will heed your advice.”

            Asura straightened and finally stood, walking purposefully for the door. Before she stepped out she turned once more and looked at Rydia. There was a confusing mix of emotions on the woman’s face and Rydia couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

            “Great things are expected of you, child. Don’t lose your head in all of it,” she finally said and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

            Rydia sat in mute shock. Her mind tried to wrap itself around what she’d been told, but she couldn’t make sense out of why the queen would visit her just to warn her about elementals.

            “Psssst,” someone hissed from behind her.

            Rydia turned, searching the corners of her room for the source. She stood and walked to the back door of her little house and put her ear to the wood.

            “Rydia, open the door, I’m stuck!” Black hissed from the other side.

            Rydia pushed aside the old rugs and boxes that blocked the door and turned the handle. It wasn’t locked as Black had thought, and the door opened with Black tumbling out from the secret entryway.

            “What were you doing back there, Black?”

            He shook his fur free of dust and cobwebs, and glared up at her. “What does it look like I was doing?”

            Rydia crossed her arms. “Why were you spying?” she demanded.

            “The queen hardly ever visits anyone--she’s rarely in the mood for it. I was curious.”

            “And?”

            He paused, “It doesn’t make any sense.”

            “What doesn’t?”

            “That she would come to visit you only to warn you about elementals. It doesn’t fit.”

            Rydia walked to her bed and flopped back onto it. “All I know is that at least this time she was a little bit kind to me.”

            Black followed her to the center of the room and there he stopped.

            “You know, she was furious at Leviathan for bringing you here. She argued with him over it for days. The only thing I can think of is that Leviathan urged her to approach you and she needed an excuse to come to you, however unusual it was. Not that she always does what he says though…”

            “Black, are you always so negative?”

            He quickly interrupted her. “And you! Why do you always ask such sensitive questions of everyone!”

            Rydia frowned and sat up. “What do you mean? How else am I supposed to find anything out around here!”

            “How could you ask her about human summons? You may as well have asked her to tell you about a friend who’d just died, rather than ask that!”

            “Why? What was wrong with my question?”

            Black stared her down. “You can’t figure that out on your own?”

            “Figure what out?”

            Black shook his feline head. “Never mind. It’s not my business to say.”

            Rydia was confused. “Black what are you talking about?”

            “If she wants you to know, I’m sure Asura will tell you. Just don’t…just don’t ask any more questions.”

            Rydia narrowed her eyes. “How am I supposed to not ask any questions?”

            He shook his head again. “It’s useless. Just be careful of what you ask about. Not everyone likes their lives to be an open book.”

            Rydia nodded slowly, still frowning with confusion.

            “Black, if you don’t mind…I need to sleep. Can you yell at me in the morning?”

            He rolled his eyes and stood up to stretch in true cat fashion, arched back and straight legs, and walked toward the door with a jaunty stride.

            “Get as much sleep as you can, just don’t do anything silly,” he advised, “I’ll be back in the morning.”

            “Good night, Black.”

            The cat grumbled a response that sounded not unlike a growl, and exited the house. Rydia got up and closed her door behind him and then finally changed out of her traveling clothes into a soft, warm night gown that had been left on her bed for her to use.

            She settled into her blankets, and finding that she couldn’t sleep, gazed fixedly across the room.

            Her mind flooded with the thoughts from the day, her lesson with Ramuh, her conversations with Black and Asura…in the end her thoughts went to her mother and the garden. _Mother, what was it that earned you their trust?_ She wondered.

            That thought lingered longer than the others and she fell asleep some time later with only questions on her mind.

 

            The following morning there was no Black to disturb her from her sleep, but a knock on her door. She swung her feet out of bed, walked to the door, and opened it to see Ramuh’s aged visage standing before her.

            “Good morning,” he greeted cheerfully.

            “Good morning, Ramuh. How are you today?”

            “I’m perfectly well for an old fool with thunder in his veins,” he replied.

            “Where are we going today?” she wanted to know, then covered her mouth hastily. “I’m sorry! Black told me not to ask any more questions,” she explained between her fingers. “Where is he anyway?” she asked, peeking behind Ramuh and finding no one.

            He smiled. “Black is not with me today, and unfortunately, we are not headed to the garden. We’re going to the arena.”

            Rydia felt her head swim for a moment. “The arena?”

            “Yes, do you have some problem with that?”

            Rydia bit her tongue. She wanted to say, absolutely! Of course I have a problem with it! That’s where a lot of my troubles began, but instead she just shook her head.

            “Good. Keep up, and I’ll explain once we get there.”

 

            Rydia followed Ramuh to the arena and once they arrived, Ramuh bade her to stop in the center as he walked several feet from before turning to face her.

            “We are going to begin your lessons on more difficult spells and their mastery. This could take some time, so I want you to pay attention carefully. I will begin with the next level of lightning spell, thundara. The wording is different, as are the gestures. The more powerful a spell, the more effort is required to bring it into being. You must concentrate for longer, and endure a more forceful drain on your stamina. Any good mage knows that too much energy than their own body can supply results in death. It borrows your life energy to be sustained, and if it can’t find enough, it consumes every part of the body. That is why some spells are never uttered. Use judgment before casting certain magics, as some could substantially weaken you and others could leave you unconscious. What we are going to begin today will not harm you, not unless you do something horribly wrong with it. Are you ready?”

            Rydia, suddenly finding herself feeling that she was in over her head, nodded in spite of herself.

            “Do you remember what I taught you yesterday for the casting of thunder and your other spells?”

            “Yes.”

            “Thundara is based off of the thunder spell but it is longer in length. Listen to me carefully to learn the new words.”

            Rydia followed Ramuh’s lead and memorized the new words that he taught her. They had gone through dozens of words and orders of placement and by the time Ramuh stopped speaking, he informed her that what she had learned was only a small part of the entire spell.

            “I told you it would take a while. You must be very patient with these types of spells. You don’t want to accidentally transform them into something they’re not and unleash more power than you can withstand. Never rush your words or you might regret the result.”

            “Ramuh, are all the next level of spells like this?”

            “Most of them, yes. But each has a different purpose and character. Lightning has a quick and devastating effect. Fire has a more drawn out, lengthy effect, and ice has a tendency to react only as quickly as you complete the spell.”

            “How many more words do I have to learn before I complete the next thunder spell?”

            Ramuh scratched his bearded chin. “Perhaps another couple of weeks. Before then, you will do other training to prepare you for casting many different kinds of magic. There is a physical part to training besides all of this. You need to be strong for what will be required of you later. Most mages will never perform what you will need to learn in order to help your former companions.”

            “What about sages? They cast very powerful magic, and what about very old sages? How can they support such strong spells in their old age?” she asked eagerly.

            Ramuh laughed. “Even the old have strength, though you might not see it. How have you come to know of any sages, little one?”

            “I know one,” she replied triumphantly. “He taught me most of what I knew about magic before I came here. His name was Tellah and he was a grumpy old man, but a good man at heart.”

            “Tellah…” Ramuh repeated. “I have heard of this man. The summoners knew him from many years ago. Yes, I had heard that he was a powerful man.”

            “So you hear stories of what goes on in my world down here?”

            “Oh yes. We hear a great many things of what goes on in the upper world. But usually, it is only because a summoner shares information with us during a summoning. Not all summonings require a battle, you see. Sometimes they are merely meetings. Your mother was one such summoner who enjoyed meetings rather than battles. She told us many stories of what had been happening within the village, what was going on outside of the valley, and anything else of interest that came up.”

            “I thought Black had mentioned that a while ago, but I wasn’t sure what he meant by it. Now I see how you were able to learn about me. The chocobo I summoned must have seen a great deal of where I was because I summoned him so often.”

            “Yes, yes he did. He is used to being called by young summoners, but usually his summonings take him only to the center of the village and perhaps the surrounding woods; never water caverns, sand caverns, mountains, and castles. He reported this to Leviathan and that was when the search for you really took strides.”

            Rydia reflected on that. “I never realized summonings were so complicated. Not until I came here. All of you are just like regular people, just from a different place with different abilities.”

            Ramuh smiled. “I’m glad you think so. You could have thought of us only as monsters.”

            Rydia’s eyes widened. “I never thought of summons like that, I thought of them as guardians more than anything else. Whenever I’ve been in trouble, a summon always saved me somehow.”

            “Is that so…”

            “It’s true!”

            “You are a rare human, Rydia. Not everyone thinks as you do, and I’m glad that you are different from the rest.”

            Rydia giggled. “I’m glad too. Otherwise I could never have such interesting new friends.”

            Ramuh’s expression was warm. “Shall we continue?”

            Rydia nodded. “Of course!”

            Ramuh paced the arena in front of her, tugging his beard in concentration.

            “Very good. Now try to keep up,” he said, winking at her as he returned to his recitations.

            Rydia enjoyed the rest of her morning with Ramuh, learning more of the next spell and receiving bits of useful information from Ramuh as they went along. All this, while being blissfully unaware of what a certain cat she knew was up to elsewhere… 


	9. Chapter 9

 

            “Shall we take a rest?” Ramuh asked.

            Rydia nodded, she felt as though her head had swelled to twice its previous size. She and Ramuh had been going over the thundara spell for several hours, and it was already the middle of the afternoon. Black still hadn’t shown himself and Rydia found herself oddly disturbed by his absence.

            “Ramuh, where’s Black? He said he would come for me in the morning and he never came.”

            Ramuh pursed his lips. “I think he said he had something important to do. What it was I can’t recall.”

            Rydia threw her head back in exasperation. “Sounds like just like him,” she complained. “I’ll be back in a minute, Ramuh, I need to go home to get something to eat.”

            He nodded. “Don’t bother coming back. I think we’re done for the day; although, I would like to take you around the city later to show you some things if you’re interested.”

            “I would like that very much. Thank you, Ramuh.”

            “I’ll come by to get you in a while,” he offered.

            “Alright!” she replied and ran out of the arena toward “home”. She was nearly at her door when a hiss from around the corner of her house startled her.

            “Over here!” it hissed again.

            Rydia crept toward the corner and looked.

            “What is wrong with you, Black?” she insisted. “You’ve been acting crazy the last few days.”

            His eyes flicked about nervously, checking for others. “Did you come alone?”

            Rydia made a face. “Yes?”

            “Good. Come further into the shadow.”

            Rydia followed him and hopped up to sit on the wall behind her house. “Well?”

            “I did some research about what happens to summons whose masters perish--”

            Rydia sat up straighter.

            “--and it seems that if the summoner dies during a summoning, that summon becomes trapped in a sort of empty space between dimensions…a limbo, neither in this world or the other. Supposedly only another summoner can rescue a lost summon, and I also heard that the limbo is filled with the raw elemental power left over from other summonings, energy that was released but never went anywhere. There’s a rumor among the older summons that the raw elemental power becomes dangerous and can take a physical form. Perhaps that’s why Asura told you about the elementals.”

            Rydia folded her arms. “I don’t know, Black. How would she know I was looking for Mist?”

            “You’d be surprised what people know.”

            “Do you think she expects me to find Mist--wherever she is?”

            “I don’t know, but if you want to find her, you’ll have to learn your spells,” and then he smirked, “and learn how to find a way into the limbo—by reading up on it.”

            Rydia rolled her eyes in frustration. “That could take forever!” she wailed.

            He smiled. “Now that you have something to work towards, maybe you’ll move faster.”

            She groaned at him. “I don’t know when I’m going to have time to practice reading again. Ramuh keeps me so busy and I’m not even half done with the next thunder spell!”

            “Why don’t we go to the library now?”

            She glowered at him. “ _Now_? But Ramuh is coming for me soon. I can’t be in the library.”

            Black started pacing. “You _should_ be going back soon,” he said to himself, “Perhaps I can convince Ramuh to let me take you tomorrow…”

            “I never thought I’d look forward to reading…” Rydia grumbled.

            “Or maybe next week we can alternate days…” Black continued.

            “Black, why don’t you just bring it up with Ramuh?”

            He stopped perfectly still and gave her a look. “You understand that going to find Mist could be dangerous—deadly even—and know that you would never be allowed to go by the others because of this. If you should die, you’ve been warned of the risks and I am not responsible for you. It would be all your doing, I hope you understand this.”

            Rydia paused and gave it serious thought. “I want to do it anyway,” she answered resolutely. “Mist was important to my village, to my mother…to me. I want to find her and bring her home.”

            She could’ve sworn Black smiled, it was hard to tell with whiskers and all, but then he leaned toward her and whispered—“and you understand why no one else can know about this?”

            She nodded. “I understand.”

            Suddenly he half turned away, one cat ear turning to catch a sound.

            “Ramuh’s coming. Better seem normal,” he informed her.

            She jumped down from the wall and straightened her clothes. Black trotted off in another direction and Rydia returned to the front of her home un-accompanied.

            Ramuh approached her and she swung her hands behind her back, smiling.

            “I’m ready to go, if you are!” she announced.

            “What were you doing back there?” he asked.

            “I thought I heard something, but it turned out to be my imagination. You know, so many things going on at once,” she said, tapping her temple as if she suffered from forgetfulness.

            Ramuh wrinkled his brow thoughtfully, but smiled.

            “Very well, Rydia of the forest. You certainly are an unusual little human, but I suppose it’s just as well. I’d like to show you some of the city if you still have an interest in seeing it,” he said, and with her nod, led her away from her house and toward the device that would teleport them to the next part of the city.

            Rydia had grown used to much of the city already, but there were some parts that she had never seen and she was eager to go exploring with Ramuh. She knew how to get to all of the places that surrounded her little home--places that she knew now were shops and other homes, but she had seen only a little of the area outside of that. She had learned that the summons were handy with tools and crafted fine magical garments and weapons which they traded with other beings and occasionally, as she understood it, humans. She wondered what else she might learn in the other areas of the Summoned Land.

            Summons besides Ramuh and Black generally avoided the section of the city where she lived, but the few times there had been summons near her house when she left in the mornings, she had picked up these bits of information.

            Stepping onto the teleportation device, the same curious sensation that always occurred with its magic ran through her body from head to toe, and when they had both emerged on the other side, Ramuh began leading her through the other part of the city that she had only seen one part of.

            There were more homes where he led her and they were close together. The road between them and what might have been yards, were composed of the unusual wooden planking similar to everything else in this place. Bordering the entire block of homes was a stone wall, and that was how large Rydia knew the city was for certain. Beyond that, rolling hills and beautiful fields spanned the horizon to every side, making the Land of the Summoned appear more inviting than it really was.

            A thought suddenly entered her head, and curious, she turned around to see if she could see the other part of the city where they had transported from. All her eyes could see, however, were the fields and hills, no trace of other houses or anything. The other part of the city was no where to be found.

            “Ramuh, where is the other part of the city--how far have we traveled?” she asked, hurrying to catch up with him a few steps ahead

            He looked at her strangely. “What do you mean? Can’t you see the other buildings?”

            Rydia frowned and looked again to be sure. “No.”

            “The other section is beneath us. Each section is suspended above another and connected by those devices,” he explained.

            “So all of these places are stacked on top of each other?”

            “In a way. We can see the other places, but not what goes on inside them.”

            “Why do I see fields and hills then?”

            “You could be seeing what you want to see. We call it the mind mirror.”

            “Mind mirror? So even the sun?”

            “You see the sun?” he asked, stopping to look at her, his eyes wide. “I envy you, Rydia. Not even I see the sun anymore.”

He paused and looked around at the stone wall with a sadness in his eyes that spoke of longing. “I once did,” he continued. “I used to see trees too, but my memory began to fade as I aged and now all I see are the buildings.”

            “So…anyone could see anything so long as they can picture it?”

            Ramuh nodded. “The magic here does strange things; although, I would rather see your version of this place.”

            Rydia looked around, mystified.

            “What’s in this section?” she inquired.

            “This is the living area for most of the summons,” he answered.

            “How many summons are there?”

            “A hundred and more. Our numbers grow from time to time.”

            “There are one hundred summons—or more?” Rydia asked, agape.

            Ramuh considered her with a confused smile. “Does it surprise you that there are names you do not know? Simply because they are ‘summons’ does not mean that they have boundless powers, they are sentient beings that cannot live without magic. They come here for safety and a place to live. Not every summon is summoned for battle. Some are not even recorded among summoner lore.”

            “So there are many summons here that aren’t even recorded in those…books you were talking about? Leviathan had told me that the summoners wrote the summoning spells in books, but I didn’t believe him at first. I thought everything was passed down from parents to children by speaking. I didn’t know that even they didn’t know all of the summons there were.”

            “It might have been for the best. I’m sure the summoners only needed to know the names of the summons that suited their purposes. That may be why not all of us are known. Every generation of summoners has a scribe who writes down the discoveries of their peers. These are all written down and given to our own bookkeeper and kept safe, away from other humans. You may be the first to ever learn who the remaining summons are, but I must ask, that if you are to ever write a book, please do not include their names.”

            “I don’t think I’ll be writing any books any time soon, Ramuh,” she remarked, and then changed the direction of the conversation. “What can Black do as a summon?”

            “Black?” Ramuh repeated, surprised. “Well, speak his mind, that’s for sure. We haven’t found exactly what his talent is, but he’s a good study. I know he wishes that he had an elemental power of some kind, but we just don’t know.”

            “Was he ever summoned before?”

“Yes, I believe he was. Not for battle, but simply for his time. It’s strange, he complains about being used by humans, but he always wanted an elemental power to surface so that he could be summoned and used for some grand purpose. He confuses me…”

“So the summons that don’t have elemental powers just live here and go about their lives as if it were the human world?”

            Ramuh kept walking while he thought. “I suppose that’s true. We are an odd little community here.”

            “Who are your friends, Ramuh?”

            He raised his brows, caught off-guard by her question. “Well let’s see…there’s Shiva,” he began, “Titan when he’s in a talking mood—you’d never know it by looking at him, but he’s a deep thinker and occasionally has some good things to say—then there’s Carbunkle but I haven’t seen him in a while…”

            “You’re friends with Shiva?” Rydia interrupted. “I heard that she was a human once, is it true?”

            He flicked his eyes at her in a measuring glance. “Yes,” he answered slowly. “What do you know of that?”

            “Only something I heard…” she hedged.

            “Shiva was indeed human. So was I once…it is strange how quickly time passes, yet doesn’t seem to pass at all. I haven’t seen my trees in many an age.”

            “Your trees?” Rydia asked, trying to sound oblivious.

            “I was a wood warder once. I tended to the trees of the great northern wood. I think it’s part of some kingdom now, Toroia perhaps…I wonder how they’re doing.”

            “Toroia? Oh, but I’ve heard stories about Toroia, Ramuh! It’s very green and the forest stretches from the mountains to the sea!” she told him delightedly.

            Ramuh smiled. “So good to hear.”

            Rydia gazed around at the wooden planking and the stark houses, then back at Ramuh. “Why aren’t there any trees here?”

            He sighed. “I don’t know, but I wish there were.”

            “Maybe someday I’ll find a way to send trees here,” Rydia assured him.

            “I would like that very much, Rydia. But first, come this way, there’s someone I would like you to meet.”

            Rydia followed him down another “street” and while they walked along, she observed the homes and realized what they reminded her of. They were all similar to what she might see in Mist with their gables and narrow windows. She felt as though she was walking through a place that was perfectly preserved as what Mist used to be. The notion unsettled her but also left her in awe. Were the homes the result of the mind mirror as well? Was it her home that she truly wanted to see and that was why everything looked as it did?

            Finally Ramuh came to a stop in front of a door to one of the houses. He knocked on it and waited.

            It took a few moments, but the door did open and the lithe figure of Shiva appeared from within. Her dark braids and chilling eyes struck Rydia at once as the ice summon glanced at her and then at Ramuh.

            “What is it? I see you’ve brought the girl,” she remarked coolly.

            “May we come in, Shiva?” Ramuh asked.

            She looked them both over and then opened the door a bit wider.

            Ramuh stepped through and Rydia followed at his heels. The house was fairly dark on the interior. A few lamps were lit and burning in the corners, but otherwise it felt like the entrance to a cave, not a home.

            Shiva appeared out of sorts, and walked away from them further into the room.

            “I wasn’t expecting you. Is something wrong?” she asked over her shoulder as she fussed with something Rydia couldn’t see.

            “Nothing’s wrong. I wanted to introduce you to Rydia.”

            Shiva paused to place a glance on Rydia. “It has a name now? Don’t be getting too attached, Ramuh,” she warned.

            “ _It_ is Rydia, a human and a summoner. A human like we once were.”

            Shiva’s eyes immediately hardened. “What right have you to give such information so freely?”

            “Does it really matter?”

            She pursed her lips and walked away, pulling blankets off of chairs, showing places to sit for the two of them.

            Rydia accepted the seat a moment after Ramuh himself had been seated and looked around the room. It smelled pungently of incense and spices and there was a distinct chill to the air. There were also bolts of fabric and sheets of silk hanging from the ceiling like veils, and Rydia found it curious that it was also Shiva who had brought her her robes for training.

            After her own observations, Rydia determined that Shiva’s home was just as exotic as she was.

Shiva returned to them and sat in a chair of her own. She was draped in a blue robe and crossed her arms and legs gracefully.

            She watched the two of them for a few minutes.

            “Well?”

            “As I said, this is Rydia,” Ramuh continued.

            “We’ve met,” Shiva replied, barely recognizing Rydia’s presence at all. “What other reason did you bring her here?”

            “Aren’t you even curious?”

            Shiva inclined her head. “About what?”

            “About being free of the spell.”

            Shiva’s eyes darted to Rydia’s in surprise and just as quickly returned to Ramuh.

            “You think she can do it?”    

            “I might…with a little help,” Rydia said in her defense, but found herself ignored.

            “She is the last, the only one who could do it now,” he told her.

            Shiva frowned. “The question isn’t about her ability to do it, it is _will_ she do it?”

            “I already said I could if I had help!” Rydia interrupted.

            Shiva looked at Rydia again, a grim smile on her lips.

            “Summoner, do you know how many generations have kept us here, bent to their will? Do you know the bondage we have known twice over? You are young and inexperienced. You do not yet know the lust for power that corrupts human minds. How am I to trust someone who will expect me to address her as ‘master’? How can I be personal with someone who may betray me?”

            Rydia jumped up from her chair. “I won’t betray you! I had no idea how you were being kept here, but I promise you, I will find a way to free you from the summoners’ spell!”

            Ramuh furrowed his brow. “That is a mighty promise, Rydia. You realize that you will be held to it.”

            Rydia sat back down, feeling overwhelmed. “I know.”

            Shiva appeared unsettled. “I will hold you to your word, little girl.”

Silence reigned over the three of them for some time, until Shiva at last turned to Ramuh again.

“And what about the search? Have they found anything?”

            Ramuh shook his head. “Still nothing.”

            Rydia listened to them quietly, confused by the different topic, and still surprised by her own outburst and promise. She seemed to be making a lot of those lately.

            “She has to be somewhere,” Shiva argued to no one in particular.

            “Shiva, we will find her,” Ramuh assured her.

            Shiva stood up again and walked to the other side of the room.

            “You know, I had hoped that _she_ would find a way to free us, but instead we lost her and one of our own. If this one does not succeed, we will not last much longer,” she said, looking at Rydia sadly. “Ramuh, there is a war being fought in the human world. If we ignore it, I fear it will not ignore us. As we are, we are powerless. We can do nothing beyond what a summoner asks. How much longer must we protect everyone else but ourselves?”

            “Patience, Shiva. Rydia is learning her skills. Perhaps she will need you to teach her the nature of ice when the time comes.”

            “You’re being serious? Teach a summoner? Ramuh, have a little more sense,” she scolded.

            “If you’re the one who teaches her, how much more will she be indebted to you? How much more trust will you have?” he argued.

            Shiva looked away and shook her head. “Perhaps.”

            Rydia, realizing that they were talking about Mist and her mother, turned to face them. “I may not be my mother, but I can still help. As long as I know what to do and how to do it. Besides, I’ll be staying here for a long time, and that means I’ll have to get to know a lot of you. I can’t do this by myself. Leviathan told me that we need each other, so why not work together?”

            Ramuh smiled strangely, a mix of pride and surprise on his face. “She’s right, Shiva. We’ll get nothing done at all if we can’t trust each other from here on. We have been mistreated by humans for many years, but now we have a chance to start over. We need each other, summon and summoner, if either of us has a chance to survive.”

            Shiva’s smile was forced, but not without some softness. “I never thought I would hear those words leave your mouth, Ramuh.” She looked at last on Rydia and sighed. “Rydia, should you need my assistance learning to harness the power of ice, I will come. You may be human, but perhaps the corruption that so plagues the rest of your race has not found its way into your heart. My hopes, at least, rest with you now.”

            “I’m not perfect, but I will try my best,” Rydia replied.

            Shiva nodded and looked at Ramuh with an unusual sparkle in her cool eyes. “I think I understand the attachment now, Ramuh. Perhaps you will have a chance to see those trees again after all.”

            “I think I just might,” he said, smiling. “Thank you for your time, Shiva. This little one and I have a few more things to see before this day is through.”

            “Good-bye for now, friend,” she acknowledged, and walked them to the door. “Rydia, take care. Keep your wits about you and remember that much depends upon you. You still have some more convincing to do before I trust you completely, but your heart seems to be honest and for now that is enough. We will be seeing each other again.”

            And with that Ramuh led the way out of the ice summon’s home into the light outside. Shiva nodded to their parting and then the door was closed.

            Rydia looked up at Ramuh curiously. “Where next?” she asked.

            Ramuh looked back at her, her eager face and uncanny adaptability, and all he could do was laugh. The confusion that spread across Rydia’s face was not missed by the old summon, but he never answered her unasked question. He simply guided her along the wooden street to finish the tour, and as they walked along he could have sworn that for the first time in an age, he saw the movement of green leaves, and could hear the rustling of the wind through the branches of a great forest. Perhaps there was hope after all, he thought smiling.  


	10. Chapter 10

Black empty spaces haunted Rydia’s dreams as she slept. She couldn’t explain why, of all things, it was the void that scared her so much, but it was the feeling of being lost and alone that brought her out of her sleep in a heartbeat. She felt cold all over even though her blood was pumping wildly through her veins. She quickly took stock of her surroundings to assure herself that she wasn’t lost in the middle of nowhere as she had dreamt and sighed in relief. It was morning already, she knew, and if Ramuh hadn’t already knocked on her door he soon would. She slipped out of bed, hoping to shake the uneasiness she was still feeling and helped herself to the fruit on her table that had been re-filled while she was out the day before.

            A strange thought occurred to her as she finished a peculiar orange fruit and moved on to a yellow one, that maybe the blackness was what Black had spoken about, what Asura had cryptically warned her about. If Mist was in such a place, a place of such nothingness, Rydia wondered how she would be able to find her. How could you find anything in the dark?

            She sat next to her table, feeling frustrated by the questions she couldn’t answer, the problem she couldn’t solve. She had made a promise to Ramuh, to Shiva, and to Leviathan. She would find Mist, and she would find a way to free the summons from the summoner’s spell. But she was only a girl. She could barely defend herself in a fight, let alone speak a second level spell properly. How was she supposed to do all of what she had promised? She was still ruminating on her shortcomings when her door creaked open. A small black paw appeared in the opening and a labored grunt followed soon after.

            Rydia stood up and walked to the door. Her eyes popped open in surprise when she saw Black heavily burdened by a humungous pile of books that he had evidently dragged on his own from the library on a small rug. He held a roll of the rug in his teeth, what he had pulled the entire load with, and looked up at her. He looked so pathetic that Rydia nearly laughed.

            “Did you really—”

            “Ysh,” he gave by way of reply.

            She nodded and opened the door the rest of the way, picking up the stack of books. They were incredibly heavy, and she grunted when she lifted them off of the rug. She carried them over to the table and dumped them there, not strong enough to set them down lightly, and making the fruit in the bowl jump at the disturbance.

            Black dropped the rug and walked to the center of the room where he collapsed in a panting heap of fur.

            “Took me the past hour just to get them here,” he rasped.

            “Black, why didn’t you just wait until I was awake so I could help you carry them all?”

            He looked up at her and paused, thinking. “That would have been too simple,” he answered.

            She looked at him reprovingly, then at the stack of books. “What exactly are these, Black?”

            “Your reading material for the next several weeks,” he informed her, getting up and leaping onto the table top.

            He pushed the top book off of the pile, and pulled the second one aside, flipping the cover open with one paw.

            “After our first awkward experience in the library, I went looking for something easier. It seems that in our exchanges with the summoners, we came upon a book that I don’t think we were supposed to have.”

            “How so?”

            He pointed at the book he had opened. “This book was written for little children. They’re stories of myths and other legends, some of them are about us, of course. We have no need for it, and the summoners had no real reason to hide it from the rest of the world, unless they feared almighty Baron would kill them for their wonderfully crafted children’s tales. This one must have accidentally been spirited away with a few others.”

            “And this is a good thing?”

            “It means that you should be able to read it in less time than the others. You have something easier to begin with than the other texts I had given you.”

            Rydia looked at the book and frowned. “Black, where’s Ramuh? Does he know that you’re teaching me my lessons today?”

            Black twitched his tail. “Something happened in the caverns that has his attentions right now. I think the monsters came too close to the entrance of our city.”

            Rydia cocked her head to the side skeptically. “Can they actually enter the city?”

            Black looked at the ceiling while he thought. “I think it’s happened before.”

            “How can that be? I thought only a summoner could send something into the containment spell.”

            He looked straight at her. “You walked in, didn’t you? There was no incantation that brought you here, you simply walked onto the device.”

            Rydia paused, remembering. “But…what about other summons, what about—”

            “Leviathan has spent the last several centuries finding ways to get out of the spell without a summoner’s call. He invented the teleportation device from the design of one that was used by humans in another age. It allows us to leave to retrieve materials for our crafts, but it’s dangerous outside of the spell, and only a few of the older summons use it. Sometimes things accidentally find their way in, but they take up more of our magical resources, so we try to get rid of them as quickly as possible. That might be what Ramuh is doing right now.”

            “So if someone knew where to find you, all they have to do is come to the cave and find the device?”

            “I suppose, but it’s not like we announce ourselves to the world. We’re in the underground--if anyone finds their way here, they’ve gone to great pains to do so.”

            Rydia rested her chin on her propped up arm and stared again at the pile of books. “And today we start our reading lessons again.”

            “We’re trying to find Mist, remember? Do you want to help her or not?”

            Rydia sat up and sighed. “Black, do you really thing it’s possible to find her in the void?”

            “It has to be!” he responded adamantly. “You’re not giving up before you’ve even begun, are you?”

            “It’s hard not to,” she mumbled.

            Black laid his ears back, annoyed. “You’ve got too much promise for a human to give up at this point. Now, pick up this book and learn something,” he insisted.

            Rydia pulled the book toward her and examined the first page. There were drawings and beautiful characters on it, but she couldn’t understand them. It reminded her of a time in Kaipo long ago when she had fallen asleep to the image of creatures dancing to Edward’s music. She felt a lump in her throat thinking of her friends, of the life she had left behind.

            She didn’t realize that Black was staring at her with concern on his face. “Is something wrong?”

            She shook her head, frowning. “What do these mean?”

            “This word begins with the letter ‘i’. It sounds like this,” he explained, and then demonstrated. For the next several hours they did this--Black speaking the letters to her and making the sounds, her repeating them immediately afterward.

            Halfway through the morning they stopped to take a break. Rydia sat back in her chair, exhausted. She folded her arms and looked at Black.

            “If the summoners sent their spells and knowledge here, why haven’t any of you learned the secret to free yourselves on your own?”

            Black grimaced and looked away. “It isn’t that simple, Rydia. The documents that contain the knowledge we need are in code. We need the cipher.”

            “You mean, even if I learn how to read and write, I still need something else to break the code? Black, what next? Am I supposed to learn how to stop the sun from rising?”

            He shook his feline head. “No, no, no. The cipher has to be somewhere. You just need to find it and use it. Even then, the secret to unlocking the texts might just be somewhere inside you and you don’t know it.”

            She stared at him aghast. “This wasn’t what I agreed to…”

            “Things change; learn to adapt and overcome. You’ll live longer.”

            “Does anyone else think I can do this?”

            “I do. Shiva, Ramuh, and Leviathan have high hopes also.”

            “What about the rest?”

            Black sighed. “Rydia, it will take time. But everyday you’re here you earn a little more respect from the others.”

            “How so?”

            “You show that you genuinely care. That’s not a trait seen often in humans.”

            “I just can’t help but feel overwhelmed. What if I let everyone down?”

            “As long as you try your best, I’m sure they’ll understand.”

            Rydia couldn’t help but smirk. “I don’t know, Black, but I think you really do have a soft side.”

            His face immediately hardened and he glared at her. “I do not. Break’s over; pick up that book again.”

            She rolled her eyes and returned to the top of the page. She suddenly sat up straight, her face alight.

            “Black, Black, Black!”

            “What!” he demanded.

            She looked at him and smiled. “I understand the first line, Black!”

            He gave her a peculiar, whiskered smile. “You see? Progress.” 


	11. Chapter 11

 

            Propelled by her earlier success and Black’s assurances that she was moving in the right direction, Rydia continued to work her way through the entire first page of the book he had given to her. It was already late in the afternoon and Black had left to do other things, but she stayed firmly seated by her little table, poring over the intricate characters and beautiful pictures before her eyes. The book was a story about a dragon and a boy who befriended him. They traveled together across the world, visiting many lands and many different people. That was as far as she had gotten, but she was anxious to learn more of their adventures together so she continued to work her way through the words and their sounds.

            A soft knock on her door wasn’t enough to divert her attention, so she didn’t see Ramuh as he quietly shuffled into the room and came to stand beside her.

            “Little one.”

            Startled, Rydia looked up. “Ramuh!” she exclaimed. “Are you alright? I heard you were fighting off monsters!”

            He smiled faintly and nodded. “Who told you that?”

            “Black did.”

            “Do you mind if I sit?”

            Rydia looked at the open chair across the table from her. “Not at all. What is it?”

            Ramuh seated himself and winced from the effort. “I don’t know what Black told you, but it is true. Monsters tried to gain entry to the city again. They haven’t in a very long time, but they want to get in more than ever these days. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with what is happening in the upperworld, but trouble is surely coming.”

            “Cecil had said that monsters were increasing,” Rydia mentioned.

            “It’s true. Side effects of the crystals…or the lack of them. I can’t be sure.”

            “They can use the teleportation device, just like we can?”

            “Yes. Normally they leave us alone. They sense we are more powerful and dare not challenge us, but now they are trying to get in more than ever, out of boldness or a fear of what’s outside. The trouble is, they’re growing stronger.”

            A strange ripple of fear ran through Rydia. “Are they very dangerous?”

            “They might be to you. For us they are a nuisance and perhaps a little more so, but to you, a human child, I cannot say.”

            “You don’t think that I’m the reason they’re trying to get in, do you?”

            “No, I don’t think so. Nonetheless, you should be on your guard. Do not leave here for any reason. Not until you are better able to defend yourself, do you understand?”

            “I understand, Ramuh. I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”

            He nodded. “That is good. We will protect you, but in the caverns there is no guarantee of what can happen. When I found you the last time it was out of luck, little more. There will be a guard posted near the device from now on, so you can rest at ease. I just wanted to be sure you knew not to travel beyond the city.”

            Rydia looked at him, concerned. “Ramuh, are you hurt? You really don’t look very well.”

            “I’m old, Rydia. It’s a miracle I look as well as I do at all.”

            “You just seem…a little older than usual today, that’s all,” she pointed out.

            He took a deep breath and smiled. “Enough about all of that. Tell me, what’s all this on your table?”

            “Didn’t Black tell you?”

            He raised both brows while leafing through some of the other books. “Tell me what?”

            “He’s started to teach me to read again.”

            Ramuh looked at her and chuckled. “He has the patience for it?”

            Rydia giggled. “He tries his best.”

            “And did you make any progress?”

            “I did!” she replied and showed the book she was reading to him. “This page is about a boy and a dragon and their adventures. I don’t know what kinds of adventures though because I haven’t figured out the second page, but that’s a start, isn’t it?”

            “Very good, Rydia! I’m proud of your efforts! What, with your spells and your reading, we might have to find a way to incorporate them all into your training from now on.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “What if you trained with me in the mornings and studied with Black in the afternoons? Would that suit you?”

            Rydia paused and reflected on the decision. “I think I could do that,” she agreed.

            “Excellent. I will let Black know so that we can start this as early as tomorrow.  There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be allowed to do both.”

            Rydia’s smile turned to a worried frown. “Ramuh, is there anything else I should be doing?”

            He studied her face. “I think you’re doing enough. You’re improving everyday, and that is all that matters to me.”

            “But should I be learning faster?”

            “Rydia, you’re not a machine. Don’t concern yourself with impossible tasks.”

            She nodded absentmindedly and returned to her book, but not before glancing at him again. “What will you do now?”

            He leaned back in the chair and sighed. “I suppose I’ll go home and take care of some business. It’s been a long day.”

            “Was anyone else with you in the caverns today?”

            “A few, yes. We drove them back, but being out for so long has left me very tired. I may rest early this evening.”

            “But you’ll definitely be here in the morning, won’t you?” Rydia asked anxiously.

            “Yes, I will be here. I’m sorry I wasn’t here this morning.”

            Rydia smiled. “You or Black, the two of you are always changing places.”

            He smiled also. “We make an odd pair of teachers, don’t we?”

            “I don’t really mind. I just want to know that you’re alright.”

            “I’ll try not to worry you in the future,” he pledged.

            “Maybe _you_ should go get some rest,” she suggested.

            He grinned ruefully. “Strange to hear that coming from you,” he said, standing up.

            “Good night, Ramuh.”

            “Good night, little one. I will see you in the morning.”

            “I’ll be ready!” she promised.

 

            Ramuh left her and she returned to her book. It startled her how much a book could absorb her imagination, and she found herself loathing the work far less than she expected. She still loathed the amount of time it took her to assimilate so little information, but the results were well worth the effort. After several more hours and two pages mastered, she set it down and rubbed her eyes. The pause gave her a moment to catch up on the rest of the day and her conversation with Ramuh. Monsters were everywhere, even here. She couldn’t help but feel like she was being trapped on all sides, whether she was with Cecil or with the summons. No matter where she went someone was trying to hurt her or the ones she cared about. Was this because of the crystals being stolen?

            She yawned and stretched and ultimately decided that she’d had enough for one day. Tomorrow she would start again with Ramuh and continue to learn with Black. Everyday she was coming closer to finding Mist and learning how to help her friends, both human and summon alike.

            Besides, she figured her eyes wouldn’t be so sore in the morning either.

 

            Just as he’d said, Ramuh came for her in the morning. Rydia slipped on her clothes and her cloak and followed him once again to the arena. She couldn’t help but notice that the unusual sun was hidden by a thick wall of clouds as she followed behind Ramuh’s dark robed figure. She wondered what had happened to cause the change, but she didn’t ask any questions on the way, thinking that perhaps it would be best if she didn’t ask any more questions for a change.

            When they reached the arena, Ramuh surprised her. He stopped and pointed at the sky when they reached the center. “You are seeing these clouds because I wanted you to,” he explained. “The best way to learn about an element is to observe it in its natural state. Watch.”

            Rydia watched as he lifted his arms and closed his eyes, not saying a word. The sky above darkened and within moments had become a tremendous thunderhead. Rydia could hear the clouds rumbling and the winds gathering force, and stepped back before she had considered the movement.

With no warning, light erupted out of the clouds, dazzling her vision in a series of streaks and flashes. Lightning split the sky and the thunder that followed made her duck and cover her ears. It seemed like it went on forever, but it really took only a few minutes and then was gone. When she opened her eyes—she didn’t realize she’d closed them—Ramuh’s arms were back at his sides and the sky was eerily calm.

  1.             “That was lightning,” he told her. “If you are to command it, you can’t allow yourself to fear it. A thundaga spell is similar to what I just did, and if you don’t know what to expect, it can catch you off-guard.”   



            “That’s a _thundaga_ spell?” she asked, incredulous.

            “The third and final level of lightning spell.”

            “Ramuh, why is it called thundara and thundaga if it’s a lightning spell? Isn’t thunder what happens after the lightning?”

            “I’m glad you asked. You see, thunder is only as impressive as the force of the lightning that precedes it. Thunder is the voice of lightning, and it’s just easier to say, besides.”

            Rydia made a peculiar face. “The third lightning spell really looks like that?”

            Ramuh grinned like an enthusiastic little boy. “Exciting, isn’t it?”

            That wasn’t the word she was looking for, but she certainly had an idea of what to expect in the future.

            She looked up at the sky and let out a deep sigh. She had a long way to go.

            Before Ramuh could begin the rest of the lesson, though, a voice from the other side of the arena stalled them.

            “Oh, it’s only you, Ramuh. I wondered who had brought on this unusual weather.”

            Rydia turned to look, and saw Shiva standing in beautiful blue silks with her arms crossed.

            “Good morning, Shiva!” Ramuh greeted her.

            Shiva strode toward them and glanced at Rydia. “Showing her the power of your element, old man?”

            “Of course. What other method of disturbing your sleep would I choose?”

            Shiva smiled lightly. “Should I cool you down a little?” she asked, raising her own arms and creating a shield of cold air around her body. In one hand a long, sharp icicle formed and she handled it like a finely crafted sword.

            Instead of using it like Rydia had anticipated, she twirled it like a rod, creating a flurry of snowflakes. Shiva smirked at Ramuh and blew the snowflakes harmlessly in his direction before allowing her shield of cold to fall.

            “Good show, Shiva. However, I must inform you that your services are not required today.”

            “I wasn’t offering,” she bluntly replied.

            “Why are you here, then?”

            “To observe. I want to see what your new pupil can do.”

            Rydia gulped and looked helplessly at Ramuh. Ramuh smiled and winked back at her. “You may be bored, Shiva. We are only working on the dictation of the thundara spell. I was merely showing Rydia the power that she will be unleashing once she masters her spells.”

            “ _That’s_ what you call showing off. How eloquent, Ramuh,” Shiva teased. “I am content to watch these proceedings. I have no other preoccupations for today.”

            He nodded and pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “Very well. Rydia, repeat what we’ve been learning for the past few days.”

            Rydia obliged him, constantly aware of Shiva’s cold eyes upon her. This went on for several hours, Ramuh giving her new words, and she repeating them just as they had on previous days. Shiva watched her every move, listened to her every syllable.

            When Ramuh had finished his lesson, Shiva returned to the center of the arena to join them.

            “What is the opposite of lightning?” she asked.

            “Water,” Rydia answered.

            “And what is weak against lightning?”

            “Water.”

            “Ahh, but what else?”

            Rydia frowned. She was certain that only something of a water element was weak against lightning. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

            “Machines,” Shiva told her, beginning to pace. “In your world, the upperworld, humans use machines. Airships, weapons, it does not matter. This war is being fought with machines that even your people don’t understand, though they’d like to think so. The skills that Ramuh is teaching you now could play to great advantage if used properly. The metal machines are made of is dangerous. Remember, that if your enemies can be weak to the power of lightning because of metal armor or the use of their machines, you too can be harmed. Avoid the trap and you will be better off. The second side to every spell is defense against it.”

            “Thank you for teaching me.”

            “Don’t thank me, just remember what I tell you,” she retorted, and then walked toward Ramuh. “Your pupil has a ways to go until she masters her techniques. Perhaps I will join you in future days to assist your methods.”

            Ramuh looked her in the eye. “If you believe that is necessary.”

            “I do,” she replied icily, turning her back to him and leaving the arena just as she’d entered it.

            Rydia watched the ice summon leave, fearing that she had failed some great test. “Did I do something wrong, Ramuh?”

            “No. It seems I am the one failing you, little one,” he answered her, staring after Shiva’s billowing silk robes in concerned silence.

            “Was that all for today?” Rydia asked.

            “You are free to find Black, Rydia. I will see you again tomorrow.”

            Rydia trotted out of the arena toward home. She would find Black alright. She had some questions for him, and a desire to know why Shiva was challenging Ramuh. She didn’t know what it was, or what it meant for her, but something was definitely wrong and she was going to find out what.

 


	12. Chapter 12

She could have gone straight home as Ramuh had asked—she could have begun practicing her reading before Black came to meet with her, but the devious part of her mind had taken hold once more. She wanted answers now, not later. Her experiences with the summons over the last few days had been strange; one day they were friendly and the next they were distant. Even Ramuh had been acting a bit off kilter, and before she knew it her routine had been tossed around again like a rag doll to the benefit of everyone else. One day they placed their trust in her and the next they snatched it away.

There were a lot of things that didn’t make sense, a lot of contradicting stories, but she had an idea where she might find her answers and they started with Black. For some reason an idea so absurd it both excited and frightened her had entered her mind. She didn’t want to wait for Black, she wanted to get to the bottom of this latest development before it was pushed to the back of everyone’s minds like yesterday’s news. She knew she wasn’t just imagining things, there were hostilities between the summons and she was the cause, but this time the reason confused her. Shiva wasn’t against her particularly, it was Ramuh she had an issue with and it had all started yesterday. It wasn’t just Black she wanted to see, it was where she might find him. The library. The closest place to the throne room and the two summons who would definitely be aware of what was happening. Perhaps she might “accidentally” hear something while she was there. It was too tempting a notion to pass.

She had checked to be sure no one was looking before she turned down the road to the building. There was no one at the door, no onlookers; it was a quiet day as was normal in this section of the city, due in part to her very presence there. But when she reached the door, her hand froze at the handle. She couldn’t decide if this was worth the risk or not, but if Black was there and he had heard something lately about Ramuh, she wanted to know about it. Making a split-second decision, she opened the door and slipped quickly inside, casting about for signs of anyone else in the room. All she saw, though, were tables and chairs with piles of books on top of them in the soft lamp glow. When she was sure no one was there, she set about thinking of where Black might be if he was, in fact, in the library. Reluctant to call out his name, she began to circle the room, weaving in and out of the rows of shelves. The steep cliffs of tomes to either side of her gave her the feeling of being trapped, and she felt her mouth go dry at the memories of tight passages and narrow spaces she had been with Cecil and Tellah. This, however, was without a doubt one of the eeriest places she’d ever been. It was somehow worse than the caverns, but she couldn’t really come to understand why. Here she was surrounded by silent stories and spells all bound in leather and laid to rest on the shelves. She couldn’t even begin to imagine just how many secrets were in their pages or how she was going to decipher them all. Just glancing down the aisle, her eyes began to blur. She hoped Black didn’t mean for her to read _all_ of them.

She finished her circle of the room and stood with her hands on her hips, exhaling with a mix of anxiety and relief. Black wasn’t on the first floor. Her gaze fell on the staircase leading down to the second basement. Entering the library without permission was one thing, but going even deeper was another, even though her original plan had been just that. She bit her lip, wondering if there was even a chance she could hear anything being said in the throne room from down there. Would Black be down there? Curiosity overrode caution and she slowly crept toward the staircase leading down. She stood at the top stair for a moment and strained her ears for anyone down below. When she heard no one she made her way down step by step, careful not to make a sound. She reached the bottom and peered around the corner, looking for anyone who might be hidden between the shelves. Seeing no one as on the first level, she tip-toed across the room and approached the final staircase. She heard voices from down below, but after a few short minutes, a door was closed and all sounds ceased. Rydia slumped against the wall, thwarted. She could go no further. Unwilling to return just yet, she rested in the library basement and allowed her ears to adjust to the stillness. At first she thought she was hearing things, but when she focused her attention on it, sure enough, there were sounds coming from below. She pulled herself up and began to pace around the room again, listening for where the sounds were strongest. Her quest for the source led her to a back corner of the room where, to her surprise, she felt a warm draft coming from behind a shelf. She was about to find a way past the shelf and into the hidden passageway when a lightning fast streak of fur erupted from the hole, angry amber eyes boring into her own.

“What are you doing here?” Black hissed.

Rydia had fallen backwards in shock, and could only stare at him with her heart racing a mile a minute. She wasn’t sure what she should tell him--nothing sounded good.

“I came here looking for you,” she answered feebly.

He stalked past her and swished his tail, refusing to look at her. It was obvious from his rapidly twitching ears, he was listening for others.

“You picked a bad time,” he snapped, turning around to face her. “Why didn’t you wait for me? You could have spared us both a heart attack.”

“I had to find you. Something’s wrong with Ramuh and he won’t tell me what it is. Besides, now Shiva is giving him trouble and I figured you were the only one who would know what was going on. I think Shiva wants him to stop teaching me.”

“I know.”

She paused, the words she was about to say never reaching her tongue. “You what?”

He frowned, his whiskers turning down as a result. “Things have been happening lately. I can’t say for certain what they are, but you’re not the only one with concerns. Also, do you know how much trouble you’re in for coming here--on your own, no less? And do you ever listen to what others tell you?”

“Only sometimes,” she replied with a hint of a grin.

 He sniffed disdainfully. “Didn’t anyone tell you you weren’t allowed in here?” he continued.

“You’re the only one who would have told me, and you never did,” she answered.

He stared at her blankly, his tail whipping back and forth the only sign of his agitation. “The truth is, neither of us is _supposed_ to be here,” he added. “You just had to go and make things more complicated, didn’t you.”

“You’ve been spying?”

He cocked one ear at her. Rydia had become used to reading ear movements as expressions of his mood, and she could tell he was uncomfortable by her question.

“Couldn’t the same be said of you?” he countered with a touch of accusation in his voice.

“Black, please. Tell me honestly that there’s something being hidden from me, something important. You’ve told me parts, and explained a lot of things to me lately, but you haven’t told me everything.”

“You’re not old enough to understand everything that goes on around here,” he replied.

“Every day I grow a little bit older,” she justified. “I have a right to know.”

“Why again--why now?”

“Now? Because I don’t want to lose Ramuh as my teacher, not after what we’ve been through together. He looks after me,” she explained.

“He’s not the only one, you know,” Black retorted, the snappish tone returning to his voice.

“You know what I mean, Black.”

“I’m not sure if I do. Please, explain it to me. You think Ramuh’s the only one here who looks after you?”

She stared at him. “What? What are you saying, Black?”

“He’s not the only one who looks after you and cares about what happens to you, just so you know.”

Rydia gave him a baffled look. “Are you jealous, Black?”

His eyes locked onto hers. “I didn’t say that! I’m just saying that the next time you go on about the people who care about you, don’t forget to mention the ones who are standing right in front of you.”

“I think I’ve been here too long,” she said slowly. “Because I think you just admitted that you care about me? I thought you couldn’t stand me, despite all my progress!”

“Well, I do, and keep your voice down. If we’re caught—” he stopped mid-sentence and looked past Rydia’s shoulder, both ears forward. He glanced at her wide-eyed.

“So much for an easy escape,” he muttered, and then looked at the hidden passage. “You’d better come with me,” he said as he shot back toward the opening in the shelf between the books, pushing more aside to make room for Rydia.

            She squeezed through the shelf and into the dark enclosure, following Black’s lithe figure deeper into the darkness. Sure enough, there were footsteps coming from the main room. Black went to see who it was, and once whoever it was was gone, he returned to Rydia and whispered the name in her ear.

“Shiva,” he said.

Rydia suddenly snapped to attention. This had not been a part of her plan. Now she was trapped in the library and couldn’t get out with Shiva just a floor below.

Black brushed past her and when he spoke again, Rydia realized he had gone quite a bit farther down the passage than she thought it went.

“If you want to find any of those answers you came here looking for, come here,” he whispered to her.

She did as he said, approaching him and what turned out to be a small vent in the floor. Through it, she could see part of the throne room, but seeing wasn’t important, it was hearing.

Sure enough, Shiva’s icy tone carried up through the vent. It was difficult to tell what was being said because she was already in the middle of a conversation, but Rydia was soon able to pick out the names “Ramuh” and “the girl”. She had a few good guesses as to where this conversation would be going.

“Your majesties, I feel it has fallen upon me to bring up the incident in the caverns,” Shiva’s voice reached her. “If I hadn’t reached him in time, this city might be swarming with beasts as we speak. The monsters in the caves have been multiplying more these days and it has been more difficult to repel them. Ramuh is feeling his age, there’s no easy way to put it. He was nearly overrun yesterday, barely able to keep his balance. He can’t be entrusted with guarding this city anymore. That, or I highly suggest that we block the portal. Do we truly need such a device? It’s only temporary freedom from this place, but is that worth making ourselves so vulnerable?

“Ramuh was nearly overrun? He told a slightly different story,” Asura mused.

“Because he doesn’t want to lose his credibility,” Shiva pointed out. “He doesn’t want to lose the girl. I just don’t know if he has the energy to give her his full attention, or all the devoted teaching she needs.”

“I take it you have some proposal of your own, Shiva?’’ Leviathan asked.

“I would like to assist him in her training. He needs more rest and she needs more teaching. This can’t work for the best as the situation stands.”

“I don’t like this,” Asura interrupted her. “We shouldn’t have to be teaching a human how to use magics in the first place. I’m more concerned about what that girl could be capable of more than anything else. Ramuh was given the task of instructing her against my wishes, as were many things of late, and I will not have another be given such access,” she said sourly.

There was a pause. Obviously, Shiva was at a loss for words.

“She’s here now, and there’s no changing that. What do you suggest, Asura, returning her to her own kind with what she knows of us? Better to keep her here and train her ourselves than let other humans do the job for us,” Leviathan objected.

“What is your intention with all this, Leviathan,” Asura countered, her voice dropping lower with anger. “Keep a human here as a pet? Do you truly think that a human, a _human_ child, will want to free us from the bondage her own people laid upon us? Or are you manipulating her simply for your own entertainment and to my great distress?”

“Asura you know that without the summoners our time is limited. Think of the good that could be done with her being here. If we can trust each other, perhaps someday we can be free of them for good, able to live our own lives again as we once did. And she needs us as well. How else will she help her allies if she has no knowledge of magic? If someone aims to control the crystals for his own uses, nothing good can come of it for anything and anyone that walks the earth. We need each other, and that is what is important.”

“You’ve said all this before, Leviathan. All I’m hearing is a lot of talk and very few results.”

“Peace, Asura!” Leviathan snapped. “I ask for patience in this, not scathing counter remarks. Shiva, I grant you permission to assist Ramuh in teaching Rydia. If you believe you can be of use, by all means. However, send Ramuh to see me later. I want to discuss his failings in the caverns to greater length.”

“Your Majesty, if I may, what about the portal? What should be done about this? We can’t have summons outside every evening defending the city. It’s too draining, and it’s dangerous besides.”

“I agree with her, Leviathan,” Asura stated, joining the conversation again. “This device you created has led us to more grief than good. It was well conceived, but its uses have not been mostly to our benefit as we had thought. I admit, it was useful in regards to the sylphs and the dwarves, but the caves are pressing in on us. We chose this place to make an impenetrable defense, not be overtaken ourselves. That, and it has allowed a human access. That itself was a mighty risk.”

Rydia heard Leviathan sigh. “The portal may yet prove its worth to us. I will not block it. Besides, it has already proven effective in leaving the spell and returning, as well as allowing us to use our magics more acutely than we would have been able inside this place.”

“Of course, husband. And soon we’ll also find humans of every sort finding their way through that portal you devised. We’ll have to defend ourselves against both humans and monsters soon enough, that is, of course, if we survive all this.”

“I will not block the portal. I will defend this city myself if I must, but I will not close us off entirely. We need the few contacts on the outside we have left to inform us of what is going on in the world. Your sight, while valuable, is not always reliable, Asura. Especially now that we no longer have the summoners. The portal will remain open, but Ramuh will no longer be one of those who guards it.”

“That’s it, then?” Shiva pressed.

“I have granted you permission to help teach the girl. Take your victories where you can, Shiva. Be sure you give him time to make arrangements and introduce you to her.”

“We’ve already been introduced,” she replied.

There was a pause. “Then do as you will.”

“I will. Thank you, your majesties.”

“If there was nothing else to discuss, you are dismissed, Shiva.”

“That was all.”

“Good afternoon then, creature of ice,” Leviathan told her as she departed.

 

Rydia heard Shiva as she climbed the throne room stairs and crossed the second basement level. She and Black knelt in the shadows for quite a while. Waiting until Shiva’s footsteps retreated up the final staircase and out of the library. Even then, neither of them moved.

The conversation in the basement had shifted.

“I will not have you cultivating disrespect, Asura,” Leviathan scolded, his rich voice low. “Do you think you’re the only one who’s considered this situation. I have made my choice and weighed the alternatives. She is only a little girl. She may not turn out as you think.”

“Still, I do not believe it was a decision you had the right to make for us all,” she countered.

“Do not spread doubts and rumors among the others. I will have none of that.”

“And you hope she will learn all you want her to? She doesn’t have much time as it is. This Cecil, the dark knight, has been taking his time pursuing the stolen crystals. It seems he is now attempting to climb a mountain, possibly Mount Ordeals, but to what purpose? I have already seen what the thief is planning, and it worries me. My contact in the west has seen strange signs of activity near the tower of Bab-il and Eblan. I believe he wishes to achieve something there, and if the tower is involved, you know what evil this could spawn.”

There was silence. “That tower has indeed been an unusual part of our lives for as long as I can recall. I believe it was built shortly after the arrival of the crystals, and has some connection with them, but to say if that purpose is evil? I do not know.”

“Better to be wary, than not,” Asura replied. “The dark knight will have to move quickly if he wants to put a stop to all this. If he does not, she won’t have any reason to be learning and no reason to be here. We will all be in danger. Or dead.”

“How long ago did you see this?”

“Only yesterday. ”

“Regardless of what happens aboveground, I believe she can be useful to us here and we to her.  Maybe this is where she belongs.”

Asura laughed dryly.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she replied.

“Then let her be and do not interfere. In the meantime, help me review this charter the sylphs have sent,” he said, changing the subject.

The conversation in the throne room softened and petered out as the king and queen retreated to a more private place. Black finally stirred and Rydia turned to him. “Is it true?” she asked. “That Ramuh was losing to monsters yesterday? Is that why he was so tired?”

“He’s old. I didn’t think he was _that_ old,” Black muttered. “Looks like you have Shiva keeping an extra set of eyes on you now.”

He walked back to the opening in the hidden chamber and she could see his silhouette as he peered out. Her head was reeling with the flow of new information she had just learned as she crept toward the light, wanting to speak to Black about it more.

Black was about to leave her, but she grabbed his tail without realizing it.

He swiftly whipped around and bared his teeth.

“In the future if you want my attention, don’t do that again,” he growled.

She released his tail and frowned.

“Black,” she whispered, “What did Asura mean when she said that Cecil was making slow progress? How could she know that? I thought only Leviathan could learn about me and my surroundings through my summonings.”

Black’s keen eyes studied her. Without a word he tried to make his way through the shelf.

“Black, answer me. How could she know that? Does she go up to watch them like Leviathan did for me? Why doesn’t she do anything?”

“It doesn’t work that way,” he replied, placing one solid look before turning away again.

“Then what—is it a spell or a—“

“Listen, Rydia, you’re asking questions of things that are beyond you. We have our ways here, and some things are not necessary for you to know.”

“You mean to say you all have your secrets and it’s best for you to keep me uninformed.”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

 “Black, knowing what’s happened to Cecil is important to me. It’s not enough just knowing he’s alive as Leviathan told me. I want to know that he’s okay and if he’s found Rosa. If anyone knows how to see what’s going on, I have to know too. You can’t just keep me here in the dark.”

Black’s pause was long. “It’s a seeing spell. I believe you humans call it ‘sight’ but this is a different variety.”

“Why didn’t Leviathan just use that to find me?”

“It’s not that simple. You can only see someone if you know who you’re looking for.”

“So she could spy on me whenever she chose if she wanted to?”

“I don’t think it works here in the city. You’d have to be outside of the caverns. The magic here interferes with many magics, including that one. I could be wrong, though. How’s that for watching what you say when no one’s looking?”

“So Asura watches Cecil…how does she even know who he is?”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask her.”

“What about Mist? Couldn’t she have known about Mist?”

“When she couldn’t see anyone at all in the village, she knew something was wrong. It isn’t as if she spends all of her time keeping track of human affairs. It was unexpected to all of us when we learned the summoners were gone.”

“How long have you been spying?”

“Only recently. Usually I’m allowed into the throne room but ever since you came, they considered me too great a risk to have around.”

“Anything interesting?”

“The time’s are changing.”

“That’s it?”

“Rydia, believe me when I say that you’re not old enough to know everything.”

“I need to speak with Asura,” she declared.

Black looked at her as if she was crazy. “Why?”

“If she knows something about Cecil, then I want to know too. I didn’t ask before because I didn’t know if such a thing were possible, but now that I do…”

“Rydia…what if the news was bad. Would you still want to know?”

“I would.”

He sighed. “Arranging a meeting with Asura could be difficult.”

“Black, she has information about my friends. I have a right to know.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll see what I can do. For the time being, we need to figure out how to get you out of here.”

Black trotted off and disappeared from Rydia’s view, going to find an escape route for her. She waited in the dark for several minutes, trying to piece together all she had heard. Ramuh in trouble and Cecil taking his time. She was still lost in thought when Black’s whiskered face appeared in front of the entrance to the passage.

“We’ll have to move fast,” he said, breaking her concentration. “Follow me quickly and if I tell you to do something, do it. There’s no one here, and no one outside, so now’s the time. If anyone _does_ see us, say that you had just gone looking for me when I found you on the street.”

Rydia nodded slowly.

“Don’t just sit there gawking, get out of there, let’s go!”

Rydia crawled out of the passage and through the shelf. Black dashed off ahead of her and bounded back up the staircase. Rydia hurried after him, brushing cobwebs and dust off of her cloak. When she reached the top, Black was waiting by the doorway. He was peeking out into the street and only looked back at her when she approached.

“Looks clear. We’ll go back to your house and pick up our lessons from where we left off. Remember, you say nothing of this. Asura is not to know I’ve been listening or neither of us will ever know what’s going on.”

“I know, I know. You’ve said this before,” she replied exasperated.

“Not to Ramuh, not to anyone.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Go now.”

Rydia rushed out and skipped along the road until she was a decent distance away. She slowed her pace and tried to appear as innocent and normal as possible, but the thought of Asura even having a slight possibility of knowing what she was up to made her heart beat a little faster than normal.

Black joined her a few moments later.

“Had to be sure no one saw me,” he informed her, as they walked side by side.

They walked that way in silence for most of the way back to Rydia’s small home, but when they neared it she felt the need to ask him something else. “Black, will Shiva be giving me my reading lessons as well? Because I don’t know if I’ll be able to go as fast as she would want me to. I only just got started, and I can’t even imagine what she would make me do.”

“One day at a time,” he replied, and trotted ahead to pop the door open to her house. The moment they were both safely inside Rydia’s questions immediately changed.

“Black, I know you think I can, but I can’t! I can’t do this! What am I even doing here? What am I doing this for? No one told me about Cecil, Ramuh couldn’t even tell me what was going on, and now he’s too old to teach me? It’s like no matter what I do, nothing ever gets better!”

For a moment Black just stared at her, overwhelmed by the barrage of questions she was throwing at him. All he could say was: “It’s complicated.”

“What isn’t?” she retorted. “Do you know why the crystals are being stolen? Do you really think that them being moved is enough to destroy you? There has to be more!”  
            “They’re—look, Rydia, this is hard enough for adults to understand.”

“You look. I have serious questions, very important ones! I still don’t know why my village was destroyed, why my mom had to die, and why my friends are in danger. All of that trouble because one man wants some stones? Something’s missing!”

“Rydia, I don’t have all the answers. Why you’ve dealt with everything you have, I don’t know, but maybe that man Golbez does. He’s the one who started this mess and got all of us involved.”

“So I may never know.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Black, every time I think I’m doing well, I find out I’m not. I can’t keep doing this.”

Black reflected for a moment. “Maybe Asura can help you.”

“Asura?” she gasped. “She wants nothing to do with me.”

“Prove her wrong. Prove to her that she can trust you.”

“How?”

“By being you. You proved the rest of us wrong easily enough.”

“Easily?” she scoffed. “But, Black, I never see her. How can I make her trust me if I never see her?”

“You wanted to meet with her, remember? Until then, just do your best in your studies so she’ll have nothing bad to say when you meet with her.”

“What about Cecil? How can I ask her about what she sees without letting her know I overheard?”

“You probably can’t. Not without getting the both of us in trouble.”

“It’s going to take a dozen meetings before she tells me anything like that!”

“If that’s what it takes. Rydia, you have to fight for the things you want. Very little ever comes for free.”

“Do you think you can set up that many meetings?”

“I don’t know, but if it’s that important to you…”

“Thank you, Black, it really is.”

He sighed. “You really are just a magnet for trouble, aren’t you.”

“I had a good teacher,” she said with a slight grin.

He rolled his eyes. “Alright, you. We’ll discuss this another time. Right now, get back to work.”

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

 

            An awkward two weeks had passed from Rydia and Black’s exploits in the library; and just as they had overheard, Shiva did begin to assist Ramuh with her lessons. It had practically been the next day that the switch was made, and Ramuh had merely said that Shiva thought it was necessary to help where she could, not explaining any other details about the situation. However, as the days went on, it became apparent that Shiva had more of an interest in taking more of Rydia’s lesson time away from Ramuh and introducing more information in shorter amounts of time. Rydia could barely believe that so much time had already passed, but at the same time, it felt like the past two weeks had been years.

            Shiva expected Rydia to meet her in the arena every morning as soon as the illusionary sun “rose”. No excuses, no fibs. Rydia was glad that Ramuh still came to retrieve her in the mornings, otherwise she might never be out her door on time. He tried to keep their conversations light as they walked together for her morning lessons, and she was glad for those moments. She didn’t know how she would have survived otherwise. She never pressed his shortcomings in the caverns, or if he was feeling bothered by his age. It never seemed appropriate and she could tell it was always in the back of his mind anyway. In some ways Rydia found it strange. She had never thought of summons dying of old age, but with what she knew now of the summons, she supposed it made sense. In the meantime she took to simply enjoying his company even if he was teaching her less and less. It made her mornings with Shiva somewhat more bearable.

            Shiva was a thorough teacher, just as Rydia thought she would be. She wasn’t as forgiving or patient as Ramuh, but her methods weren’t without merit.

            Shiva didn’t treat her like a child, she treated her just like everyone else, and as such, she had high expectations.

            It had been two and a half weeks that Rydia had been working on the thundara spell, and they had just now finished the encantation. Ramuh had assisted Shiva with the rest of the spell, explaining the intricacies of the wording, and inserting information about its history in the process, but afterwards, Shiva had taken nearly full control of things.

            Even after all this, Shiva determined that Rydia still wasn’t ready to command it, and instead insisted that she learn the encantations for all three second level elemental spells before using them.

            The next of course, was blizzara.

            Rydia now sat crosslegged in the arena facing Shiva, her usual gray and green robe tucked under her legs.

            Shiva simply stared back at her, steady and sure with her unusually crisp eyes.

            She was waiting for Rydia to recite what she’d just said, but Rydia’s mind briefly wasn’t on the matter at hand.

            She was thinking about Black and how things were going in the library. This was the first day he’d been able to convince the queen to meet with him. It seemed she was still irritated that he had been charged with looking after Rydia by Leviathan’s instructions.

            All that aside, she had agreed to see him just briefly and Rydia wondered if it was going well. She bit her bottom lip, wondering what she would say to Asura if she ever spoke with her again.

            “Rydia.”

            Rydia snapped to attention.

            “Where is your mind today, girl?”

            “Nowhere, I just got distracted.”

            “Repeat the first section, then.”

            Rydia slowly recited the first section of the spell. It was much simpler now that she already knew thundara. Less to memorize, just different words to insert.

            When she finished, she looked up at Shiva giving her a look as if to say “is that all?” and at Shiva’s nod, she swiftly jumped to her feet.

            “So eager to read today?” Shiva asked her as she turned to leave.

            “It’s just that we’ve gotten to the exciting part!” Rydia lied. She didn’t want to read at all, she just wanted to talk to Black.

            “I will visit you later to review today’s lessons.”

            Rydia nodded and hurried off. This had become the new routine--she met with Shiva in the mornings, Black in the afternoons, and Shiva again in the evenings to review the entire day. It had been brutal to adjust to at first, but after the first week it had become habit.

            Rydia hurried home, hoping that Black would have good news for her. She dodged several summons on the street. It seemed that they were finally returning to her section of the city, and this change in her surroundings took some getting used to.

            “I’m sorry!” she hurriedly said to one of them that she bumped in passing, and hurried on.

            She finally reached her door and dashed inside.

            “Black? Black?” she called. He had a tendency of curling up on her bed, or blending in with various surfaces in her home, so she had to be sure she called his name otherwise she might completely miss him.

            When no one answered her, she wandered to the table and considered eating something, but when the door opened behind her, she completely disregarded the idea and turned to see who it was.

            “Well?” she asked anxiously, when she saw that it was Black. “What did she say?”

            He gave her a strange look and padded over to her bed where he jumped up and curled into a ball, closing his eyes.

            “Black, did she agree to meet with me?” Rydia persisted.

            He yawned. “Well, it was a stressful meeting, and many things were discussed and the like, mostly your reasons for wanting to meet with her, but in the end, she may have agreed to see you this evening.”

            Rydia almost immediately broke into a smile. “Thank you, Black!” she exclaimed.

            He suddenly sat upright, looking her straight in the eye. “Now you hold on a minute, little one,” he warned. “Just because you have a meeting with her doesn’t mean that things are going to change over night. Do you even know what you’re going to say to her?”

            Rydia slid her foot across the floor in front of her. “No. Well yes, sort of. I’m just not sure where to start my questions.”

            Now Black was staring at her blankly. “You and your questions again. It’s amazing that everyone here still has all their ears with the sheer number of questions you ask.”

            “I want to ask her why she told me to be wary of elementals the last time she spoke to me,” she went on, despite Black’s jibe. “That’s a start at least. I still don’t know why she told me that.”

            “That was an odd one,” Black admitted. “But that can’t be all, can it?”

            “I wanted to ask her what she knew of my mother. She was the first person to mention her to me here.”

            “Really.”

            “Yes, when I first arrived.”

“That’s an interesting conversation starter.”

“It’s something,” she replied.

“Very true. I suppose I’ll leave the thinking to you then, and get on with today’s lessons so Shiva doesn’t chew me to bits later on. She felt that we didn’t cover enough material yesterday.”

“She didn’t think five chapters was enough?” Rydia scoffed.

“Apparently not. Perhaps we should get through six today and see what she does,” he replied, laughing.

 

They carried on for the rest of the afternoon, practically racing through the pages until Rydia had finished her six chapters as Black had suggested. When she finally put the book to rest on the table she looked up at him.

“Black, how will we explain my meeting with Asura to Shiva? She’ll want to know why I have to leave in the middle of our review, won’t she?”

“Just say that something important came up and see if she can come back later. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be able to. She has nothing better to do…”

“When do I need to get to the library?”

“Soon.”

“Are you coming with me?”

“I can’t. Ramuh asked to see me this evening and it sounded important.”

“Oh. Well tell him I say hello,” she said.

Black nodded. “I can do that. Just wait until she gets here and tell her—”

“Tell her what?” a cool voice asked from the doorway.

Rydia and Black both stared at Shiva standing there, mute.

Rydia immediately looked at Black for help. “Rydia has a meeting with Asura and I was telling her to wait for you so she could tell you.”

Shiva raised a brow. “A meeting with Asura? What about?”

Rydia felt her mouth go dry. “I just wanted to speak to her about something she told me a few weeks ago.”

“I’m not sure if it’s my business to ask, but it was important enough to arrange a meeting?”

“It was,” Rydia stated, holding her ground.

“I think I’ll accompany you,” Shiva said, glancing at Black as if she knew something was underfoot.

“I’ll be about my business, then,” Black announced, jumping to his feet and walking to the door. When he was behind Shiva, he gave Rydia a look that begged her to take caution. Rydia merely caught his glance and returned her eyes to Shiva.

“I think she’s expecting me soon.”

“It’s not wise to keep a queen waiting. After you, young one,” Shiva commented, stepping aside so Rydia could leave ahead of her.

It was a silent walk to the library. How was it that every time Rydia had something in mind, Shiva was always the one to interfere. Now what could she say to Asura with another person listening?

When they reached the library, Shiva opened the door and Rydia walked in first, heading for the stairs. There were a few summons sitting at the tables, and they looked up from their books with mild interest, only to ignore her soon after.

The two of them descended the next two flights of steps and finally arrived at the throne room’s door. Rydia looked up at Shiva for some clue as to what to do, but Shiva only gestured at the door handle, and Rydia lifted the latch and stepped nervously inside.

Standing across the room from her wearing regal robes and with her long brown locks tied back behind her in braids, was Asura. She looked at Rydia with eyes that seemed to see straight through her. They were almost colder than Rydia remembered them being, maybe even more so than Shiva’s, and she couldn’t help but let her gaze fall to the floor.

“Shiva, you have come to observe?”

“If that is alright, my queen,” Shiva replied.

Asura held Shiva’s gaze for a moment before looking at Rydia.

“Child, you have come to meet with me by request, and after listening to Black for two hours, this had better be worth my time.”

Rydia looked up at last. “Your majesty, when you spoke to me last, you warned me about elementals, and I listened to you, but please tell me, why did you tell me that? I haven’t been able to figure it out.”

Asura’s stance shifted. “I feel this conversation is going to be a long one,” she said. “The two of you had better come with me, I’d prefer to sit if I am to endure more questions today.”

Rydia and Shiva obeyed Asura and followed her out through a back door in the room. Past it was a hallway with many doors on either side. Asura stepped through one of them, into a room with a long table and several cushions on the floor. She bade them to sit and they did so, settling down on the cushions as the queen found a chair for herself.

“You ask me why I told you about elementals,” she began, her voice weary and her tone bleak. “I had nothing else to say at the time, so I figured I would give you some small piece of advice.”

“But why elementals? Is there something coming, something to do with elementals that is so important?”

“You are being taught by elementals, child,” the queen replied. “In truth, what brought it to mind was your little incident with Ifrit the other week. I wanted to warn you to watch your step, but it seems you’ve already taken care of that little problem. Tell me, how goes your training with elemental spells?”

“Well enough,” Rydia answered. “I’m learning blizzara with Shiva’s help.”

“And tell me, do you think that learning these spells will prepare you for what’s to come—with your allies, I mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s a step in the right direction, though, I think.”

Asura made a noise between an affirmation and disapproval. “You have to know the spells that are the opposite of your opponent--know their weaknesses. It is a fundamental fact of life. Everything has a weakness, you just have to find it. Elementals are easy, but knowing the right counter spell will not guarantee you can overpower them. Strength is necessary as well. But strength can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and especially in human hands as I have witnessed many times over many centuries. Tell me, Rydia, what would you do if you had the power to command every summon and had mastery over every spell?”

“I don’t think—”

“I’m not asking you if you think you can do it or not, I’m asking you, if you had that power, what would you do with it? Would you exploit the weaknesses of others, would you use your advantage and take control, or would you use your powers for good?”

“I don’t know what I’d do with that kind of power,” Rydia admitted. “I think I’d be frightened of it. I’d want to use it to protect the people I care about, but if they were safe, I don’t think I’d use it again.”

Asura stared at her in silence. “A wise answer. But you are still young, and a mind can change. Was that all you wanted to ask me, about elementals?”

Rydia struggled with what she wanted to ask next. There were so many questions burning on her tongue, but she knew she couldn’t ask most of them.

“The first day I was here you mentioned my mother. How well did you know her?”

Asura turned her eyes away and took her time replying. “In truth, I knew your mother as best I could in my own way. She was the first summoner I had ever met with a genuine heart for others. That does not mean I will think the same of you.”

“But you liked her,” Rydia continued.

“Many liked her, some loved her, but as with truly good people, they are too few and far too short lived.”

“She taught me to respect others and to be kind as well.”

“And yet you joined a dark knight and his companions into battle.”

“To fight for good!” Rydia objected. “Cecil saved my life from the men from Baron who wanted to kill me. They said that the summoners were too dangerous to keep alive, but Cecil stood up to them, he protected me. After that I knew he would never hurt my mother or my village on purpose, but the ones who sent him there had wanted it to happen. Besides, what happens to life when no one does anything to save it, even if it means fighting for it? Cecil, Rosa, Yang, and even Edward, they all believed they should fight to protect the ones they loved and I agree with them. I want to help them in whatever way I can, but you won’t let me leave here.”

“Perhaps there is some spark of Arya in you after all, but that alone does not convince me.”

“Then what will?” Rydia asked simply.

Asura smiled faintly. “When you leave here, what is the first thing you will do?”

“Look for my friends.”

“And afterwards, what do you think will happen?”

“They’ll try to get the crystals back and return them to where they were.”

“What if it takes a war to accomplish this?”

“I would fight until the end. Until everyone could be safe again.”

“Would you summon us to help you? Would you have us fight your enemies?”

  1. “Only if you were willing,” Rydia replied.   



“How noble of you,” Asura remarked. “But tell me, would you accept the consequences if one of us were to be defeated in battle and killed as a result?”

“Like Mist when she fought to protect my village?”

“Yes.”

Rydia paused, considering if she should say what she wanted to. “But Mist didn’t really die, she just disappeared,” she began.

Asura and Shiva both sat up straight with surprise without intending to.

“What did you say?”

“If a summon is defeated during a summoning, they don’t die, they just…go somewhere else, don’t they?”

Asura looked at her like she had horns growing out of her head.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she hedged.

“Yes you do, you just looked at me like I know something you don’t want me to.”

“No one knows for sure what can happen to a summon, but it has long been assumed that the result is death from such an instance.”

“I would accept responsibility,” Rydia went on. “But I wouldn’t give up one for the other. If a summon was killed or wounded because of me, I would want to find out what really happened.”

Asura raised a brow and Shiva shifted uncomfortably where she was sitting.

“I’ve heard enough,” Asura answered. “Shiva, take her home.”

“You never answered me though,” Rydia stated firmly. “Mist didn’t die, did she?”

“I don’t know,” Asura replied angrily. “Shiva,” she addressed the other summon with a glance that indicated Rydia’s removal from the room.

Rydia felt a hand on her shoulder and she stood up in response. Shiva directed her out of the room, not saying a single word.

Asura watched them leave looking addled. Rydia still wasn’t satisfied, but there was nothing else she could do without getting herself into more trouble. She could already feel Shiva’s piercing gaze fall on her from time to time, but she refused to be intimidated by it. It was time for Asura to give up some answers, and Rydia knew this was just the beginning.

Shiva practically shooed her out of the library and the rest of the way home. When Rydia reached the door to her house she turned around and looked up at Shiva.

“Will we still review today’s lessons?”

Shiva shook her head, staring at Rydia peculiarly. “I don’t believe that will be necessary. I will see you tomorrow morning. Good night,” she said, and stalked off, leaving Rydia alone for the evening. 

Rydia entered her tiny home and saw the books from earlier still resting on her table. She walked over and picked another one up, flipping through the pages and skimming over the words. Sitting down, she decided she would do a bit more reading. If Asura wanted to be sure of her intentions, Rydia wanted to show her she was serious, and she could be relied upon. Even if it meant she had to bring Mist back from the dead to prove it.

 


	14. Chapter 14

It seemed that all Rydia did was read until her eyes were so sore that when she met with Shiva every morning for two weeks straight, they were constantly red and irritated. Talk of Rydia’s meeting with Asura was kept to the barest minimum in that time, and it bothered Rydia not to know what the ice summon was thinking; although, sometimes it wasn’t hard to guess by the way Shiva looked at her out of the corner of her eye. She had begun to act more carefully around Rydia, as if she wasn’t sure how much she could say, or what Rydia would ask next that was of an uncomfortable nature. Not even Black had pressed the subject, he had only asked if it had gone well, and Rydia figured that having to be escorted from the room wasn’t a good sign, so she hadn’t told him a word.

            This morning there was a mix of strict appraisal and apprehension on Shiva’s face. Rydia watched the summon carefully, wondering why they had paused in their exercises.

            “You have been doing well on the blizzara encantation,” Shiva began. “Well enough that I believe it is time for you to move on at last.”

            Rydia felt her nerves jump to attention. There was only one more elemental spell to learn, and she dreaded who her teacher would be.

            “It is time for you learn fira. Ifrit will be your instructor for this spell,” Shiva informed her, straight to the point as always. “That is, of course, if he will agree to it. If I do manage to convince him to teach you, however long that will take, you will arrive here every morning just as you did with me, and you will treat him with respect. I will not carry you back to your home while you suffer from another concussion.”

            “But—“ Rydia tried to protest.

            “There is no one better to do it. He may have a temper as fiery as his magic, but he is a master with it and will teach you well. Until I receive his answer, you and Black have your reading to work on.”

            Rydia grimaced. “But if he starts boxing me around again I may have to cast blizzara on him.”

            “I wouldn’t.”

            Rydia petulantly rested her head on her hands, and stared off into space. She was not going to enjoy these next few weeks, that much she could tell already.  

“How are your lessons with Black coming?”

“I finished two whole books already,” Rydia replied, deadpan.

Shiva raised a dark brow. “Really. That much already?”

“I decided to start reading on my own.”

“And it all makes sense to you?”

“Most of it. There are some words that I still don’t understand, but Black says that I should take my time with them and learn more smaller words first.”

“Very good. You have been doing well these last few weeks.”

Rydia looked up in surprise. This was the first praise that Shiva had ever given her.

“How long do you think it will take to convince Ifrit to teach me?” she asked, afraid to learn the answer.

“A week or two. He is particularly displeased with you.”

Rydia nodded. “I’m not particularly pleased with him either.”

“Nevertheless, you will obey him.”

Rydia sighed. “I know. And until then I have to read more…”

Shiva was lost in thought for a moment. “There might be something else for you to do besides reading,” she said vaguely.

“Like what?”

“Do you know where your daggers and whip are?”

Rydia had almost completely forgotten about them. “I do.”

“It’s time we work on your physical endurance. I have withheld your performance of the second level spells until I was sure you could physically handle the strain. We’ve had you doing very little and I think now that you’ve recovered from the blow to your head, we can continue again.”

“Will Ifrit be teaching me that as well?”

Shiva laughed, and it sounded like the clinking of tiny crystals to hear, “No, no. He was supposed to test you, not throttle you. Might be he was looking for a fight that day.”

“I didn’t impress anyone that day, did I?”

“You got a laugh out of some,” Shiva admitted.

Rydia strangled a groan before it passed her lips. “Will I still meet with you tomorrow morning, then?”

“With whip and daggers, yes. And perhaps I’ll have Black come along as well.”

“Black?”

“All in good time.”

 

Rydia nodded and returned home for her afternoon lessons with Black. They didn’t speak much, but they covered a lot of pages. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, wondering why he was so quiet, but not asking for particulars. She had the impression that he was irritated but he never said why and she didn’t feel inclined to ask. Instead, they dug into the old texts, stringing words into sentences and sentences into pages. Rydia found herself understanding more in each text and the pictures that the words created left moving images in her mind as she and Black continued.

When they finished in the evening, she threw herself onto her bed, eager to rest from all the work she had been doing lately. Shiva had worked her all the harder after her meeting with Asura. A punishment perhaps? Rydia couldn’t be sure, but tomorrow’s  exercises were going to be a challenge, that much she knew. She wondered what part Black would have in her training in the morning, but before she could dwell too much on the thought, she was carried off to sleep.

 

In the morning she woke up, dressed, ate a light breakfast, and with her long disused weapons in hand, set off to meet Shiva in the arena. Black was there as well, sitting on the ground beside Shiva, looking like a small spotted statue. Shiva had a coy smile on her face and it immediately set Rydia off balance.

When she approached, Shiva began her explanation of what she expected of Rydia. “You will be running from here, to the library and back again. You will be taking your weapons with you. Their weight will help you adjust to what you will face in real battle. Black will accompany you as an escort and also to keep pace. Begin when you are ready.”

Rydia’s brows both shot up. “Without stopping?”

“Yes. For the next week and however much longer it takes for Ifrit to begin teaching you fira, you will do this first thing in the morning.

Rydia glanced at Black, but he had already begun running out of the arena. She chased after him, finding her legs strangely stiff from so many weeks of not having to use them for anything faster than a walk. Eventually she either sped up or Black slowed down, but she caught up with him when they were halfway to the library.

When she ran alongside him, his eyes snapped onto her. “What did you say to her?”

“What?” Rydia asked, a bit breathless.

“I went to see if I could arrange another meeting, and I receive an earful about what _I_ told _you_!”

“Are you talking about Asura?”

“Please tell me you didn’t run your mouth again,” he groaned.

“It had to be brought up sometime!” Rydia contested.

“What—what did you just _have_ to ask!”

“She started it, she asked if I would accept responsibility for a summon if they fell in battle like Mist did, but I asked her if Mist had really died, and she seemed to think so.”

Black stopped running and faced her, immediately serious. “What did she do?”

“She stared at me like she wanted to know where I had heard such a thing. Why won’t she consider that there is an alternative to Mist being dead? Why would she want everyone else to think so as well?”

“I don’t know, but I want to talk to you about this later,” he said and started running again.

It took the two of them a considerable while to get back to the Arena where Shiva was waiting for them. She rested one hand on her hip and stared at them, unimpressed.

“I expect tomorrow will yield much better results because this was downright absurd,” she remarked.

Black cocked an ear back in aggravation. “It’s not my fault human forms are slow.”

Rydia gave him a pointed look. “What!”

“I think she has to work a bit more on her ‘pacing’.”

“Oh, I see,” Shiva commented. “At any rate, Black, you may go about your business. Rydia and I will move on to something else.”

After Black left them, Shiva turned back to Rydia. “Rydia, draw one of your daggers.”

Rydia withdrew one of the daggers from its sheath, feeling the weight of it in her hand and the polished wood beneath her fingers. Shiva shook her head.

“You’re holding it wrong. Didn’t anyone show you how to use a dagger?”

“No. Cecil tried to show me how to use a bow, but I never really was any good at it.”

“A bow?”

“Yes. I lost it in the shipwreck.”

Shiva paused a moment, studying Rydia’s face curiously, and then continued.

“Hold the dagger with your fingers on top, your thumb below. Your arm should always be loose, never completely rigid. If your arm is too rigid, it’s easier for someone to break it, or disarm you.”

“Rigid?”

“Very straight.”

“A dagger is not a sword, Rydia, even though the one you’re holding looks like a short sword for someone of your size. You may swing your arm in graceful arcs, but a dagger’s advantage is speed not grandiose displays. Thrusts are your best option.”

“Like this?” Rydia asked as she flashed the dagger in front of her sloppily.

“No. Perhaps if you’re swatting at flies, but for our purposes, no. Step forward with your right foot. Lean into your strike, don’t shy away from it.”

Rydia swiped, swung, stabbed, and swatted, but Shiva merely brought her hand up to her chin thoughtfully, trying not to show her frustration. It was apparent that Rydia had never handled such a weapon with any proficiency.

After a few hours, Rydia flopped down on the ground, trying to catch her breath.

“Why are you teaching me how to fight with weapons if you’re convinced I’m dangerous?”

“If you could defeat me with a weapon of any kind, I’d begin to worry. Right now, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be teaching you how to defend yourself.”

“Even though I’m a human?”

“A useless human is just as bad as a dangerous one, just in a different capacity. You’re no good to us if you die after all the work we’ve put into you.”

“But if I’m too tired to cast anymore magic, what good will my physical strength do? Won’t I be too tired for that as well?”

“That depends on how much magic you use. A good mage knows their own limit and will not cast beyond that. They reserve what’s left of their strength for physical combat if the situation comes to that. Not that I’ve ever known a mage skilled with both magic and physical prowess, but basic knowledge is useful.

“And if the enemy is too strong?”

“You must rely on the strength of your companions.”

“Shiva,” Rydia asked, changing tack, “what happens if a summoner is killed during a summoning and not the other way around? Does the summon die?”

Shiva walked a few paces away until she was behind Rydia, away from her curious gaze. “I do not believe so. A summon is not a part of the human realm in such a way to die if its connection is severed. If a summoner dies, the summon is released. With no one to continue the spell, there is no reason for the summon to stay or die. Remember, when summoned, we arrive as a spell bound to the life force of the summoner. For humans, being connected to our realm during a summoning and supporting our essence can be a very stressful experience, and that is why having a summon fall in battle can be fatal to a summoner. The vacuum of magic overwhelms the caster, much the same way a mage who casts a spell too powerful to withstand dies.”

“So my mother died because the energy she was using to summon Mist turned back on her and drained her dry.”

“She might have tried to save Mist, but the energy she needed to do so was beyond her. Mist faded. My guess is, the farther away a summoning is performed, the greater the strain. If Mist faded to the void and your mother was still connected to her magically, trying to keep her in the human realm must have been overpowering. That is my own theory, but I can’t say if it’s true or not.

“Is there a way she could have survived? They both could have survived?”

“If your mother had released Mist before she was fatally wounded, perhaps. But that would not have stopped the knights of Baron from entering your village. Still, I do not believe Mist to be dead, just…gone.”

Rydia paused, deep in thought.

“Do you think it was wrong of me to ask the queen what happened to Mist?”

Shiva turned and studied her young face carefully. “It was not something you should ask of a queen, nor debate with one nonetheless, but the question itself was a worthy one.”

Rydia shifted her position on the ground. “What if it were possible to enter the void and bring a missing summon back?”

“Only the dead can enter the void. I have no idea how you would succeed in doing such a thing, it’s probably best not to try. If Mist is not in this realm then she may just be gone for good and none of my hopes of seeing her again will make any difference. I may have to release you from your promise, little one.”

Rydia nodded absently.

“Asura doesn’t believe that Mist is alive or that there is a possibility of finding a way to bring her back, does she?”

“She doesn’t want to breed false hope. It is her way,” Shiva replied.

“But she seems so sure about it! Has she tried to do it herself?”

“Watch your tongue, little one,” Shiva warned. “I’m sure she has. She must have her reasons. Perhaps she doesn’t want anyone trying anything so dangerous. Whatever her reasons, I must honor them.”

Rydia stared fiercely back at Shiva. “She still should have admitted it was a possibility.”

“Get back on your feet. You still have work to do.”

Rydia groaned softly as she pushed herself back onto her feet. Her legs were already stiff from the run with Black, but she willed them to obey.

Shiva made her perform several more exercises, none of which Rydia completed with any grace or proficiency. After six grueling hours of practice with Shiva, Rydia was finally released for the day.   

Rubbing her thighs, she returned home, remembering bleakly that Black wanted to talk to her about her misadventure in her meeting with Asura.

She opened the door to her home to find Black sitting in the middle of her floor, staring at her intently.

“Explain,” he demanded.

She rolled her eyes and threw her weapons down, stretching, and throwing herself down into a chair.

“I already told you! She asked if I would accept responsibility for a fallen summon! I said I would!”

“No, the part where she didn’t want to admit there was a way to bring back Mist. What did she do?”

Rydia paused, thinking. “She sat up real straight and just stared at me. Like she couldn’t believe I would say such a thing. But I’m confused about something--do Ramuh and Shiva believe that Mist is in the void, or just you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Because just a few weeks ago, Shiva was arguing with Ramuh about there not being enough done to find Mist, and today she was talking like she knew about the void and about getting inside. She wasn’t trying to find a way in herself, was she?”

“Shiva thought there might be a way to find her, but I don’t think she would go so far as to enter the void herself. To most summons it’s just a place that may or may not exist.”

“So Asura doesn’t believe there is a way to save Mist.”

Black looked at her askance. “I imagine she believes it is for the good of summon-kind. I can’t see her wanting anyone to get the idea that they can go looking for Mist when such a feat has never been done before. I was the only one to realize that only a human could be capable of doing it, if they even could.”

“She probably won’t want anything to do with me ever again,” Rydia complained.

“Perhaps not. You never know with Asura.”

“What now, then?”

“Life goes on, whether or not you had an eventful meeting with the queen. We will still continue with your education and training regardless of her opinion of you or your boundless curiousity. The next time, just be sure that you leave me out of your conversations. I have enough to worry about.”

Rydia rolled her eyes and returned to reading with Black. She wondered how many books it would take her before the queen was speaking to her again. She figured it would be several and spent the next several weeks proving herself right.

 

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

Shiva’s sandaled feet walked purposefully along the uneven floor of the cavern that surrounded the city. She had reverted to the form she liked best, the one she used when she was out hunting or being summoned. Her hair was the color of silver snow and it shimmered as she walked, even in the darkness of the cave. Her complexion had gone pale, and its unusual icy sheen made her appear as if she had thousands of powdered crystals dusted onto her skin. She was an image of graceful beauty as she paced through the different chambers of the cavern, calm yet determined. At her side was a long ashen rod that curved elegantly at its end where a glowing azure jewel was set. It was cool to the touch, but that was of no concern to Shiva. It was the weapon of an ice elemental and she had every intention of using it this evening.

            She was guarding the entrance to the city while Fenrir performed some errand for Leviathan. No doubt he had been sent to the overworld to watch someone for a short time, but there was no telling what the king sent his subjects to do. He had strange tactics and had been acting stranger still. Whatever the circumstances, Shiva had taken Fenrir’s position for the evening, watching for rogue monsters that wished to enter the portal. It had been three weeks since Shiva had started Rydia on her weapons exercises, and now that she had moved on to the fira spell with Ifrit, Shiva had been left quite often to her own devices. It amazed her how much time and energy the girl consumed, but now that she had time to herself again, this was how she was spending it—hunting for monsters.

            She wished something happened soon before she had to return to the city to rest. She could feel the strain of being outside of the spell already after only an hour or two, like a hunger pain that would eventually spread throughout her body and become a deep fatigue. She had to be careful or she’d end up like Ramuh had a few weeks ago. It was fortunate for her that the distortion of time from the city affected the caverns as well, it ensured that her replacement would come to her on time.

As she moved back to the portal she threw a shield of ice behind her, and found some satisfaction at the piteous cry that signaled a monster had fallen. She wondered if perhaps the monsters of the cavern came to the portal to feed off the energy. If the time distortion bled through the opening, what else did as well? It was hard to achieve black and white distinctions with the effects of magic. Some things crossed over where they found they could, like weeds growing in cracks—opportunists to the end.

With her back to the portal, she watched the surrounding darkness with keen eyes.

            “You may want to stop pacing. You’ll consume more energy that way,” a familiar voice told her from the direction of the portal. She turned to see Ramuh standing some distance away in his tawny robes with his staff in hand.

            “You shouldn’t be here,” she informed him. “It’s too dangerous for you--you’ll run out of energy long before I ever will.”

            He smiled and walked closer to her, shuffling a bit more than usual.

            “How is Rydia doing?”

            “She’s doing perfectly fine. Why couldn’t you ask me this from within the safety of the city?”

            “Because I wanted to talk to you in private,” he answered.

            Shiva frowned and cast a glance around the cavern room they were standing in. “Privacy has become an issue now, has it?”

            “You were with Rydia when she met with the queen, weren’t you?”

            “I was. Why do you ask?”

            “The queen has been asking questions.”

            “What about?”

            “She seems to think Rydia knows something she shouldn’t and she’s been asking odd questions around the city ranging from death and the afterlife to colors of the crystals.”

            Shiva raised a brow. “I see her sense of humor has returned.”

            “One thing’s for certain, she thinks Rydia is starting trouble.”

“Rydia thinks that Mist might still be alive,” Shiva explained. “I told no one else about her meeting with Asura or what was spoken there. It’s impossible that word of it spread.”

            “Do you think Rydia knows of the void?”

“Perhaps she knows of it by another name, but it’s possible. I just hope she doesn’t try anything foolish.”

            “I think the queen already fears that Rydia would try something so bold.”

            “Why would it matter to the queen?”

            “Because as much as Asura loathes Rydia’s presence among us, she wants her freedom more. She can’t have any distractions in Rydia’s training and she won’t allow the rest of us to put all our hopes in an idea that may not even be real.”

            “Why did you have to talk to me about this in private?” Shiva asked again.

            Ramuh glanced back at the portal and Shiva’s gaze followed his. “Because I’m not entirely sure I disagree with Rydia. I’ve spent enough time in the library surrounded by the summoner’s tomes to learn that there are many magical cracks and threads in our realm. We are creatures of magic, physical weapons should not be enough to kill us, especially not ones made of iron and disenchanted ones at that. What if there was a way to find where Mist was sent and bring her out again?”

            “You’ve said this before, Ramuh. I believed you then, and it plunged us into a considerable amount of trouble. The queen doesn’t want us pursuing that line of thinking anymore, that’s why we had to become silent about it. Rydia has stirred the waters some, but the queen would never allow that idea to travel beyond her immediate person, I’m sure of it. She’ll put an end to it before it even begins. And you’re forgetting something, Ramuh. Mist’s form was killed, even if her spirit was not. What would happen to her if her spirit returned to no body? I don’t know how much hope I have in the idea anymore myself. There are too many risks and alternatives.”

            Ramuh sighed deeply. “I still think it might be worth a try.”

            “You would risk Rydia’s life and the fate of the rest of us for the chance of bringing back one friend?”

            “I wouldn’t ask it of her now. Perhaps when she’s older and more experienced. She has other things to focus on for now. It’s just that she seems so determined to be like her mother and protect the memory of her village that she would bring back the summon that has meant so much to her people for so long.”

            “Once again--foolhardy. She’s a bright girl, I’ll admit you judged her correctly on that account, but she follows her impulses. If she takes faulty direction there’s no telling what she might do with it.”

            “I think the queen wants to know who put the idea of the void into her head.”

            “Who do you think—“ Shiva asked, then stopped.

            Ramuh nodded knowingly. “He misses Arya a little more than the rest of us, I think,” he said thoughtfully. “If he has put Rydia up to anything like this I’ll tear his whiskers off. He should know better than to involve her in any plot like this. Bringing Mist back won’t return her mother, and I don’t think she’ll realize that until it’s too late.”

            “You want me to keep an eye out for trouble, is that it?”

            “I didn’t want to discuss Mist with her until she was older, until I thought she might be better suited to handle it, but I’m worried that she might have set her energies on doing this and if we don’t intervene, she could step into a danger she can’t step out of.”

            “Will you talk to Black?”

            “I’ll tell him stop giving Rydia dangerous ideas. You just be sure she keeps her attention where it needs to be. Mist can wait.”

            “I will do my best.”

            “It’s best we keep our thoughts to ourselves, whether or not we agree with what Rydia might want to do. Maybe in a few years we can push her in the right direction, but for now I believe that would be unwise. Thinking you can raise the dead is a temptation best avoided, especially for one so young.”

  1.             “I agree.”     



            “I will leave you to your hunting,” Ramuh told her as he turned to leave. “Watch out for the red ones, they’re particularly nasty,” he added with a smug smile.

            Shiva placed a long chilly stare on him. “Keep walking, old man. I know how to do my job,” she said and once he had left her she returned to the quiet observance of the night watch. 

 

            Two more days found that Ramuh’s report had been accurate. Asura had been social throughout the city, testing the mood of the other summons and looking for information that might coincide with Rydia’s quandary. In the span of those two days, the void was declared a myth invented by the summoners to strike fear into summon-kind, and Mist was said to have died valorously, dividing her magical essence across the sky for others to remember her by. Shiva listened with only half an ear. She hadn’t believed that rumor two years ago and she wasn’t about to start believing it now. She knew the queen was trying to keep the peace, and it was a pretty lie to be sure, but Shiva wouldn’t accept it. The fact that Leviathan was nowhere to be found hinted that he didn’t agree with the queen either but wasn’t so opposed that he was going to get in her way.

            In the meantime, Shiva tried to keep all attentions diverted from Rydia. The last thing that girl needed was more trouble. Any rumors about her heretical ideas Shiva put an end to. If the queen was going to lie, so was Shiva. She convinced everyone that Rydia couldn’t even know of such a thing and that she had no intention of dishonoring Mist’s death. Shiva had a fierce reputation and there weren’t many who were about to question her when she made her own round of visits.

            At the moment Shiva stood at the side of the arena watching Rydia work with Ifrit. The bullheaded fire summon was becoming more animated as Rydia seemed to be having difficulties. Shiva had no worries that Rydia could handle herself, but as an added security she remained for the lesson.

            After several hours, Shiva noticed Ramuh sauntering over to her and she moved closer to save him the extra few feet.

            “He hasn’t threatened her yet, has he?” he asked.

            “It’s hard to be sure. Ifrit always gives the impression that he’s about to boil over.”

            “How long until she returns to your instruction?”

            “Another week. Once she’s learned all three spells she’ll have to test them. I may take her into the caverns and have her attack a few weaker monsters to be sure she’s mastered them.”

            “And after that?” Ramuh asked, sounding deeply interested.

            Shiva sighed, knowing that the next step bothered her more than she cared to admit. “She begins to learn the summoner’s encantations. How was your talk with Black?”

            “He didn’t say much, only that he had mentioned the idea to her once. I told him to get it out of her head and now he’s off licking his wounds in true feline fashion.”

            “Let’s hope he makes good on those instructions,” Shiva commented and the two of them returned to watching the girl and the fire summon at work.

            At length Shiva spoke again. “Do you remember what that was like?” she asked, nodding in Rydia’s direction.

            Ramuh looked at her curiously. “I don’t recall ever being a human girl.”

            Shiva bared her teeth at Ramuh in mock frustration. “No, being young and human. Do you remember any of it?”

            He reflected on her question a while before answering. “You must remember, Shiva, that I was already old when I became a summon. My youth is as far away as it could be.”

            “I hardly remember mine either,” she admitted. “I remember my mother’s dark hair and my father’s smile, but I remember little else. I don’t even recall why I climbed the mountains in search of the ice crystal’s power. Perhaps it was immortality that I was looking for then, not knowing just how long an eternity could be.”

            “We all started our journeys in different ways. What matters is we’re all on the same path now, no matter where that path ends,” Ramuh assured her.

            “All of us but her,” Shiva said quietly. “She can’t stay here forever, and you know it. Sooner or later she will have to return to her own kind. She will grow up, live, learn, and grow old. Someday she will die and the rest of us will still be here.”

            “Who was it you lost, Shiva?”

            She looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”

            “Who are you still mourning from the past you can barely remember?”

            Shiva shook her head, exasperated. “I don’t even know.” In a lower voice she said, “It’s just hard to be reminded of how short life is for everyone outside of the spell. Every time I look at that girl I think of the family and the life I left behind me. They’re all gone now and here we are--gods to those who still remember us.”

            “You were afraid of dying,” Ramuh noted.

            “I suppose that was it.” She paused. “Do you ever think we were cursed, Ramuh? That we are always surrounded by reminders of how fleeting life is for the ones we left behind?”

             “I stopped seeing them as curses,” he said slowly. “I came to see them as opportunities of being a part of something all the more precious because of its short-lived nature. Everyone has only so much time in this world, the shorter the life, the more precious, the more rare. Rydia reminds me of the hope people have in life, knowing from their youths just how short it is. Her life is a mere dot in the page of history, but even one small dot can change the way a sentence is read or a story ends.”

            A smile played at the corner of Shiva’s lips. “Very poetic, Ramuh.”

            “Yes I thought so too. Perhaps I was a poet in my youth,” he remarked, smiling in return.

  1.             “Poet or not, you have always been a wise man,” Shiva told him.       



            He chuckled. “And no one ever listens!” he said, to which Shiva laughed.

            When she caught her breath she looked at him. “I haven’t laughed in a long time.”

            “It seems I’ve laughed more often since she got here,” he admitted. “She has a lot to offer us, I think. More than freedom from this place, but freedom to laugh, and freedom to dream. Several weeks ago when I took her around the city I could have sworn I saw my trees. She affects me in so many little ways. My memory has become more keen than it has been in a long while and even though my body is worn out, I feel better than I ever have before.”

            “Continuing her lessons will be an interesting experience indeed,” Shiva decided.

            “They have been from the start. If you ever have the time, Shiva, perhaps you should listen to the things she says. Maybe she can melt that frozen heart of yours.”

            “I prefer mine cold, thank you, but I’ll take it into consideration.”

            “Good luck with everything. There’s a particular cat that I need to re-interrogate.”

            “Tell him that I’ll pin his tail to the floor with an icicle if he gets her into more trouble,” Shiva instructed Ramuh as he left her.

            “I will,” he answered and walked off.

            Shiva’s steely blue eyes looked once again at the happenings in the arena. Ifrit’s tormentings were at an end and Rydia was looking more than a little tired. She had been spending an awful lot of time reading with Black, Shiva mused. She shifted her gaze to the far staircase leading out of the arena and saw another body standing there. The queen stood at the edge of the tier, watching the proceedings with a guarded expression on her pale face. Shiva frowned. She and Ramuh could handle Rydia well enough, and they definitely did not need the queen’s additional pair of eyes looking on. In fact, it made Shiva bristle as if it were a personal insult. With Rydia and Ifrit done for the morning, Shiva left the arena, stalking up her own staircase and willing all who saw her to feel her foul mood and know that there was one ice summon who could fight her own battles. Let the queen challenge that, she thought, and with a cloud of cold air surrounding her, disappeared down the road.

 


	16. Chapter 16

“Do you think this is all I’ll need?” Rydia asked as she pulled on her boots and pointed at her dagger. Since her training exercises with Shiva several weeks before it had been decided that she should only carry one dagger of the two she was given.

            Black rolled his eyes, pacing back and forth. “Yes, yes. She’s testing your magic, not your combat skills. Hurry up!”

            Rydia sighed dramatically. “We’re not going to be late!” When in truth, she wasn’t sure what Shiva would consider late and did worry a little.

            “I’m already in trouble with Shiva, I have no desire to get into any more!” he answered tetchily.

            “You never did tell me why,” she prodded as she tapped her feet to adjust her boots.

            “Yes I did.”

            “You didn’t.”

            He stared at her in stock silence. “Just go!” he commanded, herding her out of the house, and afterwads, to the city entrance at a brisk run. Rydia’s lessons with Ifrit had ended the day before, but instead of returning to the arena to practice with Shiva as she’d done before beginning her work on fira, there had been a change of plans. Black delivered it to her the previous evening, informing her that her skills with all three spells were finally going to be tested and that they were to meet Shiva at the portal.

            Rydia was relieved that she was finally making noticeable progress with her magic, but a part of her was terrified of what would happen if she said all the words and nothing happened in the end. She hadn’t told Black that her nightmares of late had been various versions of that, being trapped in a battle that she never won because her lips were always frozen shut. She frowned as she ran after Black, maneuvering around the small crowds of summons who had come out to manage their affairs and thinking of all the possibilities for failure. Maybe everything would go well, she kept telling herself. Maybe just once everything would go the way they were supposed to.

            She and Black reached the city entrance at a sprint, where Rydia doubled over panting. Shiva was nowhere in sight.

            “I told you we’d be late,” Black complained.

            “Are you sure she said to meet at the city entrance?”

            He placed one solid look on her. “Of course I’m sure.”

            “Then where—“ she began, but was interrupted by a slender form appearing near the portal that led to the caverns.

            Rydia stared at Shiva in shock. She had never witnessed Shiva in her true summon form, only her human disguise. She’d heard the stories, but never imagined Shiva would look quite as she did. “Shiva, you look so beautiful!” she said, awed.

            Shiva looked uncomfortable by the remark and shrugged it off. “I’ve had a long time to perfect my image,” she replied. “Are you ready, or do you need more time do whatever it is you were doing?”

            “I’m ready,” Rydia announced, eager yet nervous to be off.

            Shiva looked at Black shrewdly before returning her gaze to Rydia. “We won’t be going very far. Only until we find an opponent for you to fight. If you need assistance I will be close by, as will Black.”

            Black appeared surprised. “I didn’t know I was going to be fighting,” he objected.

            “I suppose you should have thought about the situation you were placing yourself into before you committed to it,” Shiva answered smartly. “You could have stayed behind and done your readings with Ramuh, but it was your choice.”

            Black held his tongue and Rydia glanced at him in bewilderment. Whatever he’d done to anger Shiva must have been big.

            “Follow me,” Shiva said, stepping onto the portal and vanishing in the usual fashion. Rydia stepped onto the device directly afterwards, and Black after her, his tail twitching angrily.

            It felt like ages to Rydia since she’d been outside of the city, but in reality only weeks had passed since Ramuh had rescued her and brought her safely back from her harrowing attempt at running away. Peering around Shiva, she hoped she wouldn’t be confronted by the same monsters as before. She didn’t think she’d be able to defeat them with only the new magics she had learned, and even then, that was supposing she cast them properly.

            “This will help you,” Shiva said as she lifted one hand and spoke the words to a spell Rydia didn’t know but had heard before.

            The moment Shiva stopped chanting, Rydia felt her body lifted from the floor, or rather, like the floor had raised itself a good foot or so upwards, invisible, but very sturdy.

            “The float spell,” Shiva explained. “A useful white magic spell. It will protect us from the floor and a few of the monsters in this cavern.”

            Rydia remembered it. Leviathan had cast it when she’d first been brought to the caverns after the shipwreck.

“I’ll never learn to cast it,” Rydia stated.

            Shiva eyed her. “No. If you ever venture into the caverns, a summon that knows the spell must accompany you.”

            Rydia nodded; although, the thought of using the spell to cross the magma sea in the underworld was tempting—hot, but tempting.

            “I suppose it will keep you from unnecessarily wandering off,” Shiva mentioned offhandedly.

            Behind her, Black snorted.

            “Is something funny, cat?” Shiva inquired sharply.

            “You humans and your two legs. Always bound to your spells.”

            “I’m not human,” Shiva remarked.

            “No, but you are still human in form. How much you miss not having four legs!”

            Shiva and Rydia glared at him.

            “Shall we?” Shiva asked of Rydia, leading her away from the portal.

            They walked for a bit, leaving the portal behind several bends. There were no monsters that Rydia could see and she found it a bit unnerving. It made her feel like some form of prey.

            Suddenly Shiva stopped, holding up a cautionary hand. Rydia and Black both looked up at her, waiting. Slowly, the ice summon pointed to a tunnel half hidden in the wall. Sure enough, there was movement there, and they waited for whatever it was to show itself.

            Finally it crawled out from its hiding place, staring at them with baleful eyes. It was some form of lizard, or beetle, or some other armored creature, and it hissed menacingly at the three of them.

            Shiva tapped Rydia on the shoulder. “Now’s your chance. Choose a spell and recite it.”

            For a moment, Rydia could only blink. No instructions, no guidance, she had to make her strategies herself. She chose blizzara and went to work on the encantation. To her relief, the monster wasn’t pushing forward too greatly, but only inching forward, as if to test these new adversaries. It gave Rydia enough time to concentrate on the words, to pronounce every syllable correctly. When she felt she’d said them all, she released the final word from her lips and a cloud of ice swirled up, around, and encased the creature, stopping it in its tracks and freezing it momentarily. The ice eventually cracked and dripped away, but the creature was still there. Rydia looked up at Shiva imploringly.

            “What did I do wrong?” she asked, worried that her spell hadn’t included the proper potency clauses.

            “You did nothing wrong. It would take at least a blizzaga spell of medium experience to dispatch this one in a single attack. You’ve done well for your first time. All you need to do now is practice them more frequently and you’ll find your power growing.”

            “Should I cast the spell again?”

            “No. Allow me,” Shiva said, forming an ice crystal in the palm of her hand and using it like a wand. She raised it above her head and willed the essence of ice to flow around her, becoming her, and responding to her call. When she was sufficiently surrounded by an icy mist, she extended her arm, directing the energies at the monster. Thousands of tiny crystals slammed into it like broken bits glass shredding thin cloth.

            With a pathetic groan, the monster was gone, and the ice magic shimmered in the air, and then vanished.

            “That was incredible!” Rydia exclaimed.

            “Don’t get too excited, we have other work to do,” Shiva went on, ignoring the praise, and walking onward.

            Rydia and Black followed behind, Rydia trying to stay focused on what she had to do next. Fira and thundara were her next two tests and if she passed those successfully, she would finally be allowed to learn how to summon more powerful allies. The idea of learning the art of summoning from the summons themselves was invigorating. It was a rare honor, all ill implications aside.

            Shiva led them to another chamber of the caves and here there were two knights heavily armored with swords the length of Rydia in their gauntleted hands. Memory stirred within her. It was this same type of monster that had tried to kill her before Ramuh interceded. Her heart fluttered a little, remembering that day. She missed Ramuh greatly in that instant, wishing he could be by her side at this moment and not Shiva. He’d see the significance of this more than the ice summon. Nevertheless, she knew what she had to do.

            Before the armored monsters could advance, Rydia was already halfway through the thundara incantation. It had been a long time since she’d studied it with Ramuh, but it was just as clear in her mind as if it had only been yesterday. She spoke each word with purpose, emphasizing certain syllables and not others. Her voice rose and fell in a melodic pattern that she didn’t know she could achieve and then she let loose the spell. It crackled through the air in a tremendous bolt of energy, taking both monsters by surprise and weakening both. It hadn’t been enough to kill them, but it had been enough to slow their progress and make Shiva and Black stare at her in surprise.

            Like before, Shiva stepped forward and lent her magic, finishing both creatures off with a blizzara spell.

            “I don’t know how you did it,” she said, turning to Rydia, “but you managed to channel additional energy into your thundara spell, something I’ve never heard of in a beginner.”

            “I had a good teacher,” Rydia admitted, and to this Shiva appeared stung.

            “All very well,” Shiva commented, her tone suddenly distant. “One more spell for  you and then we return to the city.”

            Once again they walked, always to a different part of the caverns. Rydia wondered if Black would chastise her for her sass, but he said nothing, his ears flitting in all directions, listening for trouble. She only felt partly guilty for preferring Ramuh over Shiva, but the truth of the matter was, Ramuh had at least tried to get to know her better and for that connection, Rydia was grateful. He’d made her feel welcome here.

            At last they came to a stop in the center of a large chamber, the floor and walls glowing with the same eerie luminescence that dominated the rest of the caverns. There were also strange shadows in the room, looking like smoke or mist that drifted in the corners, catching the light from the walls and shimmering dully before floating on.

            “Shiva, what is all that?” she asked.

            “It’s magical essence. Pockets of it live in these caverns and monsters feed off of it, becoming stronger.”

            “Is it dangerous?”

            “Not directly. It can be useful, if drawn upon for a spell, but volatile if used improperly. The city survives off of essence like this, but ours is a bit more refined, not as wild.”

            Rydia wondered if the void was anything like that, but her thoughts changed when something else came into view. Women, no spiders, or some hybrid thereof, skittered into the chamber, their ropey golden hair falling to cover most of their torsos that were attached crudely to the abdomen and legs of tremendous tarantulas.

            “Arachne,” Shiva pointed out. “There isn’t much they can do to us while we’re floating above the ground.”

            Assured by this information, and trying to push her fear of spiders aside, Rydia focused on the fira encantation. It was more difficult than the others because her lessons with Ifrit had been quick and left little time for much repetition. Still, she did the best she could.

            A blaze lit up both creatures from beneath, erupting from the floor. They screamed and crashed into each other, their legs badly singed. They turned eyes full of rage at the little girl with green hair and began twin incantations. The ground began to visibly shake and a tremendous rumble could be heard. It was like a titan stumbling awake and Rydia’s pulse quickened as she quickly checked to see if she was still floating. The ground beneath her feet opened up, a deep, unforgiving chasm. She had never been fond of heights and just the sight of it made her light headed.

            The floor soon returned to normal, the wound in the earth mending itself, and the rumbling coming to an end. Shiva’s face became alight with that unearthly, chilling glow. Her hair sparkled positively with energy and a stray tendril of magical essence from the cavern came to her, allowing itself to be breathed in. Shiva began her own incantation, sounds like cracking ice and shimmers of crystals surrounding her. She released a rather lengthy spell, one with more twists and turns in it than Rydia had been expecting. Once again, the idea of having to learn and memorize such an intricate thing made her eyes go wide and a lump form in her throat. The spell consumed both arachne, freezing them completely and shattering them to pieces.

            “That was a blizzaga spell,” Shiva explained at length. “With some assistance of course.”

            “Show off,” Black teased.

            Rydia smiled. It was the same thing Shiva had told Ramuh when he’d shown her the thundaga spell.

            “Sometimes you have to know if you can still do it,” Shiva replied. “Good work, Rydia. You’ve completed all three spells and passed your first test. More practice is required, yes, but that will come as time goes on.”

            “Am I going to learn the art of summoning?” Rydia asked, curious as always.

            “You have much more to learn before we can get to that. Your penmanship could always use some work and there are more texts to read. You’ve only just scratched the surface.”

            “But that takes so long!” Rydia half whined.

            “Building knowledge is a slow process. Time builds experience and experience is what you need. We’ve only just now finished your remedial studies.”

            “Remedial?”

            “Yes. We’ve taught you what you should have already known by now. Now that  we’re caught up, we can move on to your real studies, and what we had hoped to start teaching you weeks ago.”

            “All this was still catch up?” Rydia asked, aghast. “I thought when I’d finished the first level spells I was caught up.”

            “We had to retrain you to cast your first level spells and get you familiar with the second levels as well. You needed both. Without those and a basic ability to read, we couldn’t move on to summonings or other types of spells. Now you are ready.”

            Rydia felt completely thwarted. All that work in the last few months only to play catch-up! That’s what everyone had meant when they said she needed to move faster or run out of time. She steeled herself for a long period of academic studies she wouldn’t necessarily be enjoying. She was no longer supposed to quest after Mist, the queen was still at odds with her for possibly starting a rebellion among the summons, and now she would be doing more paperwork than actual spell casting.

            “You have made up the work in remarkable time,” Shiva was saying. “If we push you hard in these next few months, we should be back on schedule.”

            “What schedule?” Rydia wanted to know. She had never heard mention of a schedule before.

            “In the old days the path of training for summoners was rigorous and demanding, but streamlined. They began training at age six and by age sixteen were considered true summoners so long as they had passed all their tests and performed all required summonings. Ten years. From what I understand, the standards these days have laxed and no one adheres to those old time tables anymore, but there might have been a reason for it, I don’t know. Oddly, Leviathan did some figuring out recently of the differences in our time and yours and determined that ten years of training here in this realm was the most compatible amount of time for training to still return you to your own world with as little time passing as possible. If it were eleven or nine, the odds for unusual paradoxes to occur was greater. It’s almost as if the summoners of old planned the ebb of the magical tide this way, to coincide with their own peculiar rituals and calendars. It might have been completely on accident, but it falls to your benefit and your otherworldly allies to complete your training and leave here in ten years. We’ve only just learned this, that is why I tell you now that your basic training is now complete.”

            “Why didn’t Leviathan tell me that before? He said years, but he never said he figured out how many,” Rydia objected.

            “He didn’t know, and even when he finished his calculations he didn’t want to overwhelm you. After all, you hadn’t completely adjusted to being here. I have no such concerns, and keeping you uninformed of your own path is fruitless.”

            _Ten years_. The thought made Rydia dizzy all over again. So much time!

            “Does it have to be ten years, Shiva? What if I finish early?”

            “I highly doubt you will. Ten years was the minimum for hundreds of years for a reason. It’s the shortest amount of training time and the best timeline connection between our two realms. It must be ten.”

            “I’m a year behind already,” Rydia murmured.

            “Not so. You already had basic knowledge before you arrived here and we only spent a few months completing what would have been the end of your first year according to old standards.”

            “How far behind am I, really?”

            “About four months, but to your credit, you’re quick. I’m sure you’ll catch up the rest in little time at all.”

            Rydia nodded hopefully.

            Shiva looked down at her, with that same appraising look. “I think it’s time we begin, don’t you?” And with a familiar feeling of being pulled out of existence, the three of them vanished in a transport spell.

 


	17. Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two Years Have Passed

 

            One thing Rydia came to learn very quickly about Shiva if she hadn’t learnt it already—when Shiva said something, she meant it. That Rydia had a lot to learn in ten years was not an understatement. Reading, writing, studying, reciting, and lessons on history both of persons and magic, consumed her energies for weeks--months. With her magical testing completed, her other studies took off at all speed. Rydia began to develop a deeper understanding of the magic her people had used for centuries and the more she found out, the more eager she became in finding out more. She moved fast, but Shiva was never entirely satisfied, convinced there was always something to be doing, and partly, Rydia thought, to keep her distracted from thoughts of Mist.

She’d been in the Summoned Land for _two years._

Now Rydia was sitting on her bed, idly flipping through her latest reading assignment. She no longer needed Black to sit beside her and help her pronounce the words or ask for their meanings, the time for that was long past. She was already an avid reader on her own and it had been joked that she didn’t need food or water to live, she could survive solely on her books. While that wasn’t entirely true--she still needed other forms of activity to fill some of her time--the idea of Mist and the void were thoughts that she still entertained from time to time and tried finding clues about in every text she read. It was a quiet obsession that she hid from mostly everyone. Black, she was almost certain, knew a thing or two about her secret agenda, but would not acknowledge it, lest he be in some way held responsible. Sometimes he came to join her while she read, but mostly for the company. She was glad for it--it gave her some form of distraction from the busy life she’d been leading for so many months. 

            Today, however, she was alone. Against the wishes of Asura and a few others, she was allowed one day a week to rest from training, and on that day she was allowed to do mostly whatever she pleased. Most days she spent in her mother’s garden, absorbing the feel of being in the real world again and tending to her thoughts. Sometimes she visited Ramuh and spoke to him about Toroia and its trees, and others she went around the city with Black, meeting a few new summons and making new acquaintances.

            She had grown very accustomed to life in the city of the summons and no longer felt awkward stepping out her door in the mornings for her training. The summons didn’t mind her anymore either. There were still some lingering rumors, but mostly they came to accept her as a sort of distant relation that they acknowledged but didn’t go out of their way to accomodate. It suited Rydia perfectly, so long as they weren’t giving her pointed stares like they used to.

            Even her small house had come to reflect her sense of comfort. She had picked flowers from her mother’s garden and put them in vases all around the room, and on her walls hung elaborate drawings crafted with magical essence that shimmered on their parchments, given to her by some of the summon children. Black was the one who always delivered them to her, the children being too shy to do so themselves, but it made her feel more welcome and she smiled whenever she passed a bunch of them playing in the streets.

            One thing that had not changed, however, was Asura’s position toward her. In the year and a half since their last meeting, when talk of Mist had spurred a small uprising among the city and a batch of nasty rumors, the queen had still not granted Rydia a real audience. Occasionally Asura spoke to Rydia in passing, if only to be civil. Otherwise, Shiva seemed to steer her clear away from the queen, avoiding any unnecessary contact.

            Rydia looked up from her book and pushed a lock of long green hair out of her face. It had grown rather long in the time she’d been in the Summoned Land and she hadn’t bothered cutting it. It fell halfway down her back in long wavy strands these days. Black said she looked like some wild thing with vines for hair, but she’d tossed her long unruly hair at him then. She rather liked it the way it was and wasn’t in a hurry to change it.

            Even her clothes had changed dramatically since her arrival. Shiva had given her some basic clothes and robes for training when she’d first arrived, but after completing her three second level spells, she found that Shiva had another batch of clothing prepared for her. Shiva said she had earned the right to wear them, and that they were traditional summoning clothing, worn by the women of her people when humans and summons still got along as equals. Each of these outfits was green of course, woven with extreme care out of the delicate fabrics that only Shiva knew how to master. They were cool, light and soft on Rydia’s skin. They were durable too and had lasted her for over a year still in pristine condition. The one she wore today was dark forest green with lighter green accents, all carefully stitched in beautiful patterns and designs. Rydia had never owned any real dresses before these and the long skirts about her legs and the trailing sleeves on her arms impressed and awed her as she spun around in her room when no one was looking, just to watch them billow out around her like wisps of clouds.

            She stood up from her bed, taking the book with her. It was a longer informative volume about the magics of the second age--as she found out the world had now witnessed three ages, the third being the one she was born to. Her time learning the stories for children was over, although she sometimes re-read a few of them when she got her hands on them, enjoying the stories all over again. It almost felt as though her readings with Black were in the Second Age, but really it had only been about a year since they’d moved on to harder books and he was tied up in other summonly matters leaving her to her own devices. The changes she’d been through made her feel older than only nine years. Everything here seemed slow to her mind, so part of a constant routine, yet it passed so quickly. Her reading skills had vastly improved in only a year and a half, and her writing was recognizable and neat, a far cry from what it used to be that first night in the library with Black when she’d been so humiliated. Shiva had wanted her to learn more about the history of summoning, how it was done, what it involved, and what measures it took. Rydia had read no less than fifty books on the subject, ranging in size from very large to very small. She was getting impatient to begin learning the magical part of all this, not just the historical.

            She’d been promised it would be soon. How soon was what bothered Rydia more.

            She had been eager to start ever since a curious batch of dreams had begun several months ago, propelling her to work faster. Something told her that Cecil was in danger, but she didn’t know from what exactly or what to do about it. She’d been unable to get a hold of Asura long enough to ask her if she knew anything, but she was very close to barging into the library and demanding answers, exposing that she knew of Asura’s ability to see what was happening in the overworld. Rydia had let the matter slip for so long only due to her business with other matters, such as catching up on her studies, but now that she had grown accustomed to the workload and found times even in the business to think, a powerful desire to know the full truth came to her. What made it worse was that the dreams were becoming stronger, almost as if she could see, hear, and feel what Cecil was up to. They were strange, filled with images of places she didn’t understand and people that appeared as shadows to her, never fully formed, yet she was aware of their presence. One dream had startled her severely, and that had been the appearance of Tellah speaking to Cecil. He was a bit more careworn, but his eyes held the same fierceness she remembered from the throne room of Damcyan. He was still alive, but she felt a powerful anger, a self destructive force, and she remembered waking up almost in tears from that particular dream.

            She’d told Black about a few of them, but he passed them off as simple worries for the people she’d been separated from.

            “But they felt so _real_ ,” she objected.

            “Try not to let them bother you. They might not be true after all. The magic here could be playing with your memories and dredging them to the surface.”

            “They’re not memories!” she’d snapped back, determined that there was something she was meant to be seeing.

            The last few nights, her sleep had been disturbed multiple times. She had been kept awake by visions of enemies lurking in the dark and of perilous journeys, and they were leaving her tired and irritated every morning. She’d been biding her time for ages, waiting for a proper time to confront the queen about it, but still nothing. Black had told her to wait, to do well in her studies, and to gain her trust that way to obtain another audience. A year and a half and still nothing. Asura was a very stubborn woman.

            If these images, these dreams, were really some form of divination, Rydia wanted to know how much of them was accurate and reliable, and the only way to know for sure was with the queen’s help. In the meantime, she continued to read about the art of summoning and looking for mention of the void in the texts she had access to.

            She had only found minor mentions of the void so far, but not anything substantial. The tomes that were written in the summoners’ code were still a mess of runes and symbols that she didn’t understand, so she kept to the other books written in the common tongue.

            She had only just begun to learn the summoners’ language, and had been reading journals written by students from hundreds of years before, but they weren’t very helpful either. They didn’t offer her any clues to deciphering the code, and with very limited help from Black, did she find anything mentioning it elsewhere.

 

            A scratch came at her door and she went to open it after setting her book down. Black was sitting there looking up at her.

            “You didn’t have to lock the door,” he complained. “It was only me.”

            “I didn’t want to be bothered,” she answered. “I was reading.”

            “You read a lot these days,” he observed. “Kind of strange, since you were the one who didn’t want to touch books when you started.”

            “I’m still looking for clues,” she explained.

            Black tossed his head back despairingly. “You’re _still_ looking into all that? I told you to be careful about it! Shiva bothered me about it for months and Asura still hasn’t made up her mind about you and that was almost two years ago! I thought we were working on earning her trust, not trying to drive nails through our feet!”

            “I _am_ being careful!” she objected. “It isn’t like I’m choosing books about forbidden summoning acts or something. I’m doing all the readings I’m supposed to. If they happen to have mention of summonings from the beyond, then all the better.”

            Black lowered one ear, a wary gesture, Rydia was quite certain. “Did you find anything?” he asked.

            “There was a man named Galliphen who tried summoning a dead relative once.”

            “Sounds morbid.”

            Rydia nodded. “It didn’t work. The man he was trying to summon back to his body came to life alright, but it wasn’t his spirit, it was a monster’s. He had to be killed all over again.”

            “You humans are really a special lot.”

            “There was some more mentioned about it. There were some beginner summoners who tried it also, but they were only able to re-animate the bodies, not the minds.”

            “Zombies! Your people created zombies!”

            At Rydia’s sharp look, he became instantly serious. “So…they tried bringing their own kind back from the dead and it didn’t work, but nothing about bringing summons back from the dead?”

            “Not yet.”

            “I wish the spell to prevent beings other than humans from reading the summoner’s books had been broken.”

            Rydia grinned. “What’s the matter, does it bother you that I know more than you now?”

            “You _don’t_ know more than me,” he insisted. “I’ve already read most of the books in common tongue and you haven’t! You’ve just dabbled into the summoner’s language!”

            Rydia began giggling. “I know, I _know!_ I’m just teasing you, Black!”

            “Anyway, it wouldn’t be bringing her back from the dead, just pulling her from another realm. I think.”

            “I’ll keep looking.”

            “Just keep your mouth shut. A year and a half on Asura’s bad side is enough!”

            “Why hasn’t she just let it go already?” Rydia asked.

            “Here’s another difference between our two realms. Your people have limited life spans, they do things quickly and get on with it. Here we have all the time in the world, or generally speaking. She won’t let go of her grudge until she’s good and ready and it may take her a week or several more years. We just handle things more slowly here, that’s all.”

            Rydia sighed and rolled her eyes. “She can’t avoid me forever.”

            “She can try.”

            They stared at each other.

            “Black, is it possible—” she stopped, rephrasing her question. “Can spells be cast while someone’s sleeping?”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “Could I be casting some form of seeing spell in my sleep without knowing it that would allow me to see Cecil and the others?”

            He looked at her blankly, stumped by the question. “No, I don’t think so. You’d have to know the proper spell, the proper order of words. That would be difficult enough and you’d have to rely on the fact that you talk in your sleep—do you talk in your sleep?”

            Rydia shrugged.

            “I still think you’re just re-living memories.”

            “You don’t understand, Black! It’s not just that I’m seeing them again, I’m seeing them in places I don’t recognize, with people that I know are there, but I can’t see their faces. I think I’m seeing what’s happening up there _right now_ , but I’m only seeing half the details.”

            “It’s strange, I’ll give you that. Now are we going to train or are you going to sit there some more?”

            Rydia looked at her discarded book. “I’m finished for the day. It wasn’t that interesting anyway.”

            Black looked at her in surprise. “Well then.”

            She smiled. “I’m saving my mind from blowing up like one of Ifrit’s spells. Are you coming or what?” she asked, pulling on her boots and running out the door.

 

……………………………..

 

            Another few weeks passed and every few nights the dreams returned to her. This time, they’d altered slightly. It wasn’t Cecil she saw, but the image of a man in dark armor and a black cloak. She saw only hazy bits of him so she couldn’t be sure who he was, but she thought she’d met him before. She could feel his power, his control over magical essence. He was drawing it from somewhere, something, but she wasn’t sure what. Whatever he was doing was causing pain to the magic, she didn’t know how else to explain it. She’d never thought of magic being alive in that way. It was writhing and struggling against him, but he subdued it anyway. Its struggle was as palpable to Rydia as her own heartbeat, but it confused and bewildered her. Finally, after a week of having the same dream, he turned and faced her in the end, allowing her to see his face, or helmet rather.

            She felt like he was looking directly at her, into her soul, even though it was only a dream. She felt like an intruder exposed to the person she’d been watching, and what was worse, she recognized that helmet. It was the man who had abducted Rosa! He spoke and the words passed through her, like lyrics put into spell form. She knew a few of them, they were commands. She suddenly realized that he wasn’t looking at her, but at someone standing behind her. Despite all her efforts, she couldn’t turn to see who it was, and she listened warily to the words spoken by Golbez. They were commands, orders, to warn Baron of the return of one of its traitors. He was sending someone on an errand! Rydia immediately thought of Cecil and wanted to warn him, but knew she couldn’t. What was going on?

            She woke up with a start, her room dark with the illusion of night, and before she’d considered the action, threw on a cloak and boots on her bare feet and ran out of her house to the library. It was real, it was all real, she kept telling herself.

            The door to the library wasn’t locked, and Rydia stumbled through its dark interior to the throne room in the second basement where one torch was lit. A guard stood post, but Rydia didn’t know who he was—a knight in polished iridescent armor.

            He held a lance and stamped it on the ground when she neared.

            “What are you doing here without escort?”

            “I need to speak to Leviathan, Asura--someone!” she blurted, thinking she must sound half-mad. “Something’s wrong!”

            He stayed where he was, looking at her through the slats in his helmet.

            “ _Please!_ ” she cried. She knew she had to speak with someone about this before it really did drive her mad. She knew how to ask about it too without arousing suspicions about her and Black, she just needed the opportunity.

            Finally he stirred, leaving her with strict instructions to stay where she was. She waited for what felt a long time and than at last, both the king and queen arrived in the room. They were both in their human guises and both wearing night robes. The king appeared baffled, the queen a tad irked.

            “What is it, child?” Leviathan asked, his rich rumbling voice carrying sleepily across the room.

            “It’s these dreams I’ve been having. They keep getting stronger and clearer. I keep seeing my old companions in the upperworld, but they aren’t memories, these are new events, but I can only see parts of them. Tonight I saw something else—the man in dark armor, Golbez, I saw him too and he was giving instructions to someone to go to Baron and wait for Cecil there! They’re setting a trap and there’s nothing I can do!”

            The queen looked over at Leviathan, skepticism on her brow. “What do you think of this, husband? Nothing more than nightmares, I think.”

            “But they’re not nightmares!” Rydia half shouted. “They’re some kind of…foresight, something, I don’t know, but they’re driving me crazy! Can’t something be done? Is any of it real?”

            The queen looked directly at her. “More myths and fantasies coming from you?”

            “This isn’t a myth, and that was a year and a half ago! Your majesty, please! Can you see into the human realm? There must be a spell! Just tell me if it’s true or not!”     

            Now it was Leviathan who looked at Asura. “There must be something,” he prodded.

            “Absolutely not.”

            “Can you at least tell me what this is?”

            “Frankly, child, I don’t know what you’re experiencing.”

            “He’s misusing magic! It’s in pain, I can feel it! Can’t you feel it too? Then I’m not crazy!”

            “The crystals’ energy is being pushed and pulled about and they’re out of balance. I’m surprised you’re sensitive enough to feel it as a human, but it does not mean that your visions are any more true.”

            “Then can I see something that _is_ true? Can it be done?”

            Ignoring Asura’s bitter stare, Leviathan interceded. “There is, as a matter of fact. Asura, can you just call upon the sight and let this matter rest?”

            _Finally!_ Rydia thought, elated.   

            “It’s not that simple!” Asura fiercely objected. “I can’t just call upon a spell and expect reliable results. There’s a difference of time and dimension. A year for us may only equate to a week in the human realm.’

            “I don’t care! I just want to know if anything I’ve been seeing has been happening!”

            “Girl, if you fear something terrible is waiting for him why would you want to witness it being unable to do anything to change his situation?”

            “Because knowing that, I want to see him get through it! It’s like not being allowed to read the end of a book!”

            “This is not a good idea.”

            “Please, your majesty! You can hate me all you want, but I have to know!”

            Asura looked at her very severely, waiting several minutes before replying. “You must stand absolutely still, or else the spell will not encompass you as well. I will not guarantee what you will see, but the more you focus, the sharper the vision will be.”

            Rydia obeyed the queen and stood stock still while Asura began the incantation.

            She felt like she was dreaming again when flashes of colors and lights streamed past her. They melted and flowed together, eventually hardening to become the outlines of places and things, and eventually people. Rydia looked around her. She could still see the queen and even herself, but the room was completely changed. She was surrounded by high white walls, unusual buildings with canopies and balconies, high decorative shrubs and men and women dressed in long robes with unusual hats. None of them seemed to be moving. They appeared caught in place, frozen in time.

            Rydia looked at the queen. “Why aren’t they moving?”

            “We are moving faster than they are. To us they appear to be barely moving because we are experiencing far more time than they are.”

            “What is this place?”

            “This is the city of Mysidia.”

            “But these people, their clothing…”

            “They’re mages, white and black magic respectively.”

            “Is this where Cecil is?”

            “Look more closely.”

            Rydia scanned the faces around her, and finally saw a brief sight of white hair. Cecil’s hair was that color under his helmet, she remembered. That he was now traveling with his face exposed for all to see surprised her, and for a moment she doubted if it was actually him.

            “Can we move around?”

            The queen nodded.

            Freed, Rydia ran between some mages and arrived at Cecil’s side.

            His entire appearance startled her. She suddenly came to realize the differences between the dreams she’d been having and what she was seeing now. She’d been dreaming of him the way she remembered him, but this was the actual man, almost the same but so very different.

            His clothing was white, and they were robes, not armor. Then she realized he was wearing a white robe over a shining breastplate, belted at the waist with a scabbard the color of gold and inlaid with milky white stones that shimmered and played games with the sunlight. His eyes no longer had the haunted look she remembered so well, but were clear and gray, determined. His face positively glowed even with the wear of many weeks upon it, and Rydia just stared at him. He was alive! She had found him! It was a strange and bittersweet image. They had been reunited in a way, but only through magic. Then she forced herself to turn, looking at the people standing around Cecil. Two children, a boy and a girl with short brown hair and ponytails worn high on their heads, stood behind him. In their frozen state they appeared to be arguing, the girl grimacing at her brother and the boy with a wicked grin on his face. Beside them was Tellah, grim and stoic as the last time she’d seen him. It was there, the same fierceness in his eyes from her dreams, but now she saw something else. There was a fire burning behind his eyes, a rage, and an enormous power. It was raw magic and it was being tempered to Tellah’s will. For an instant she could see its intent and it made her gasp in terror, but then it was gone and she wasn’t sure what she had felt.

            The queen walked up to her from behind.

            “What is it you see?” she said, indicating Tellah.

            “He’s angry, and he’s found something terrible. I don’t understand it, it’s like there’s magic living inside him, driving him mad.”

            “This is the sage Tellah, is it not?”

            Rydia nodded.

            “He has come to gain the knowledge of a great and powerful spell, but the sacrifices he has made in the pursuit of magical power have corrupted him, very much like the summoners of old.”

            “But he wasn’t like this before! His daughter was killed!”

            “His sacrifice had already been made, I believe. He pursued the dual magic properties of both black and white magic. He studied them immensely, becoming a sage. But in so doing, he made personal sacrifices. He became more a part of the magic and less of the human world. Now the magic bends itself to him, assisted by some other power, and in his unwieldy hands, it could destroy him.”

            “How do you know so much about this?”

            “I have seen much in dreams myself.”

            “What magic has he found?”

            “The most powerful black magic spell known to exist—meteo.”

            “If he uses it, will it kill him?”

            “If he’s fool enough to use it, yes.”

            Rydia looked at Tellah, stricken. The poor man!

            She quickly looked around once more. Sure enough, Edward and Yang were not present. For now she would have to be satisfied knowing where Cecil was.

            “What are they all doing here in Mysidia?”

            “Returning from Mt. Ordeals, to determine whether or not your ally’s quest was just.”

            “Then he hasn’t reached Baron yet! Is there some way to warn him?”

            “Not that I know of. My talent is to see, not to intervene.”

            Rydia looked at Cecil and an idea came to her mind. She quickly grasped his hand in hers, finding with a great level of shock that her hand didn’t pass through his. It was warm to her touch and she gave it a reassuring squeeze.

            _Don’t worry about me, I’m alright. Be careful in Baron, Golbez knows you’re coming. Someone waits for you there._

            She let go of his hand and as quickly as water raining down from the sky, the vision faded and she was back in the throne room of the Summoned Land.

            “That’s enough,” Asura stated. “My part here is finished. Are you satisfied, summoner? You saw your companion and saw that he is still alive. Can we let this matter that has plagued you since you arrived finally rest quietly?”

            “No,” Rydia said firmly. “I’m tired of not knowing what’s going on when I know there’s a way to see it for myself. How am I supposed to know what to expect when I return to them and don’t know what’s happened in the meantime? What good am I if I don’t have any idea what’s going on?” She hadn’t thought of this before, but when the words spilled out of her mouth they sounded strangely brilliant and she smiled inwardly at her sudden ingenuity.

            The queen frowned, but the king was holding his chin thoughtfully. “It’s true what she says. Knowing something of the situation she will be returning to would be useful.”

            “I will not be doing this for her entertainment every evening,” Asura snapped.

            “You don’t have to! Just important events!”

            Asura looked at her. “We will see. I’m returning to sleep, if that’s all the ruckus you care to make tonight.”

            Rydia looked at her determined, but also grateful. “Thank you, your majesty.”

            The queen turned to give her a look and then disappeared from the room.

            “I will speak to her, little one,” Leviathan assured her. “If this is very important to you, we will see about allowing you to be made aware of what’s happening in the human world.”

            “Thank you,” she said, relieved. She was glad the king was kind to her.

            “Now go back to sleep. Remember, it could be months before they’ve moved even a fair distance from where you last saw them. Be patient. You will still have to train knowing that you may not hear anything new for long periods of time.”

            Rydia considered this, understanding what he was saying. “I promise I won’t let it distract me,” she told him.

            “Good. I will send word when there’s something you should know.”

            Rydia turned, extremely grateful. _Catching up indeed_ she thought to herself, hoping Cecil had received her message. _It’s the least I can do._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	18. Chapter 18

For weeks Rydia anxiously awaited any news concerning Cecil and the others. She tried not to let it interfere with her work, but there were moments she just couldn’t help herself.

            “Did she really agree to it? You were actually allowed to see something?” Black asked her one afternoon as they were sitting in her mother’s garden, she with another book resting beside her. “I talk to her calmly for hours and you barge in on the verge of tears and get your way,” he went on.

            She looked over at him, a flash of annoyance in her eyes. “I waited almost two years to find out, Black. If I didn’t find something out soon I was going to burst.”

            He laughed. “You bossing the queen around--sounds just like you.”

            “I wasn’t bossing,” she returned. “Besides, I’ve come to learn something since I’ve been here. My time is short. If I don’t start asking questions, I’ll never find anything out.”

            “Ah yes, you and your short lives.”

            She looked at him critically. “If you were a real a cat, Black, you’d already be dead. I wouldn’t be talking.”

            He looked at her, shocked. “No need to flay me too!”

            She smiled and returned to looking out across the still waters of the pond in the garden.

            “If you’re going to call it ‘bossing’, there’s one other person I need to bother. I’ve been reading all these books for months and Shiva still hasn’t decided to start letting me perform the summoning incantations!”

            “She has been taking her time…I’m not sure what she’s waiting for.”

            “I hope she makes her mind up quickly. I’m starting to get impatient.”

            “Would it be so terrible to wait a little while longer? I heard you already mastered another spell last week.”

            “The virus spell, and yes it would be so terrible.”

            “It isn’t as if you’re doing nothing.”

            “I just don’t feel like I’m doing enough. I was hoping to be doing more by now, not still reading all these books.”

            Black tried changing the subject. “What was it like?”

            “What?” she asked, startled by the shift in conversation. “What was what like?”

            “The seeing spell.”

            Rydia’s eyes suddenly became alight. “It was so _real,_ Black. I could see him-- _really_ see him—it was incredible! Just to see him alive and well and looking better than I saw him last, it’s amazing. There were others with him too. Two children about my age and an old friend from the start of our travels--the sage Tellah.”

            “So I take it they weren’t in danger?”

            “Not right then, but I tried to warn Cecil anyway.”

            Black looked at her curiously. “How did you manage that?”

            “It was so strange. The queen and I could move, but everyone else was stopped perfectly still. It was like for a small bit of time we were in the same realm, only no one could see me. I thought I’d be a ghost to everyone, but I was just as real as everyone else. I could hold Cecil’s hand and everything. I told him to be careful, but I don’t know if he got my message, and I won’t until the queen calls me back.”

            “She’s calling you back?” he asked, incredulous. “How on earth did you—nevermind.”

            “There’s no reason not to hide anything from me now. Besides, the king agreed with me and Asura had little to say after that.”

            “She can’t be happy.”

            “She doesn’t have to be happy.”

            Black stared at her for a couple of minutes. “You, girl, are full of surprises.”

            “I’ll take that as a compliment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a word with my teacher.”

 

            To Rydia’s annoyance and dismay, several more weeks passed with Shiva refusing to seriously start on her summoning lessons. Shiva preferred to have the books studied first, then put all the knowledge to practice. Black had another theory.

“She’s afraid to start teaching you,” he said in passing.

That was a possibility Rydia had never considered. “But Black, what if she’s making me lose time to train?”

“She’s not. She’s just filling all your time with reading instead. You were going to have to do it sooner or later, she’s just having you do it all at once.”

Rydia rolled her eyes and went about her business. Seeing Cecil again and knowing he was still in pursuit of Rosa filled her up with purpose. She’d always known she had one ever since she arrived, but more than ever she felt it pulling at her. Just a few extra pages a night, just a few more lines to memorize and then she’d be back at his side, helping to make right everything that had gone wrong. She would avenge her mother and her village, Edward and Yang’s people too. The thought of all of them filled her with a homesickness for people. Had it really already been over two years for her since she’d seen them last?

As the weeks drew on, her anxiety became both a blessing and a curse. Her readings lurched back and forth between intense study and apathetic skimming. She kept wondering if her dreams held any truth, if Cecil was really in immediate danger, and if he’d received her warning. She wanted to finish her training as quickly as she could and return to them, and she felt Shiva wasn’t helping her by giving her endless hours of reading to do.

 

            It had been almost three months since her visit to the library, and she was sitting on the ledge of one of the arena’s tiers, staring into space.

            “I thought you promised not to let the visions distract you from training. That was the agreement.”

            Rydia spun around to see the queen standing behind her in an elaborate gold and blue gown. Her brown eyes looked like hard gemstones set into her face, and even though she had the appearance of a beautiful woman, her demeanor made her seem more harsh and worn.

            “I wasn’t distracted—I was thinking about something else,” Rydia said in her defense.

            “That had better be the truth, or this short term alliance between us will come to an even shorter end.”

            Rydia swallowed hard. “I was thinking about something I read earlier, that’s all,” she lied.

            The queen eyed her. “I’ve been keeping watch of events in the upperworld for several weeks now. It may interest you to know that something has indeed developed. They have reached the city of Baron and have come across some trouble there. If you wish to see what is currently happening, I suggest the spell be cast soon.”

            A dozen thoughts flew through Rydia’s mind at once.

            “I’m ready to see it,” she responded resolutely.

            “Very well. Step into the arena and we will get this over with.”

            Rydia hopped off the tier and walked down into the arena. The queen followed her and stood some distance away, closing her eyes, and beginning the incantation. Rydia stood perfectly still as the last time and waited for the colors to solidify into the shapes and forms of her companions. The surroundings of this vision had altered considerably. No longer were they the white buildings of the city of Mysidia, but the dull stone blocks of a castle corridor. Rydia looked around and noticed that the corridor was a lot larger than she had previously thought—it was a large room with pillars and a rich red carpet laid down the center. At the carpet’s end, her companions stood. Yang was with them and Rydia’s spirit’s soared.

            “Yang’s with them again!” she said happily, then calmed herself to take into account the other details of the vision.

            Tellah was still there as well as the two children, but they all seemed weary, as if they’d just come from battle. The man they were facing wore a crown and Rydia gasped.

            “That must be—”

            “The king of Baron,” Asura supplied.

            “But there’s something—he’s not human, is he?”

            “Why do you say that?”

            “Because I can feel the magic he possesses and it doesn’t feel human.”

            The queen looked at her. “Here I thought you would want to see that they’d reached the king and had overcome the castle guard. Not declare the king a monster.”

            “They overcame the castle guard? Was that who was waiting for them?”

            “There was one man in particular who wanted to stop them from reaching the king, but he was dealt with.”

            _So my warning worked,_ Rydia thought.

            “You think he’s a monster?”

            “It’s in his eyes,” she explained.

            Suddenly the scene lurched forward. The positions of everyone in the room had changed and Rydia saw they were spread out across the room. The king’s appearance had changed and Rydia saw that her instincts had proven correct. He was large and blue, a creature with a vaguely human face, but with the muscular body of some form of turtle.

            “Cagnazzo!” the queen gasped in surprise.

            Rydia looked desperately at the queen. “Who is he?”

            “The demon of water.”

            “Demon?” Rydia asked, horrified.

            “An elemental of water twisted into the service of darkness. He is the second of two such demons that your friends have faced. I’m surprised. His disguise was well crafted, not something I expected from the likes of him.”

            “They’ve already faced something like this before?”

            “The demon of earth.”

            “How many are there?”

            “If I recall correctly, four. If events like this keep occurring, it wouldn’t surprise me if Golbez has revived them all.”

            “Just four?” Rydia pressed.

            “According to legend, yes. All as ancient as we the summons.”

            Desperation crept over Rydia when suddenly the scene lurched again. The haphazard shift if sights played games with her eyes and she had to strain to see what was going on, like trying to see clearly underwater. When the vision regained its clarity, she saw everyone moving at normal speed. Unlike her dreams where she could hear voices, in this vision she couldn’t hear anything. Everything was going on around her without sound. The battle was not going well for her friends and the two children, twins she realized, were succumbing to most of the attacks. They were trying all kinds of attacks, but nothing seemed to be working.

            Rydia, becoming frustrated by this and noticing that only magic was going to truly work, shouted at them.

            “He’s a water element! Why aren’t you using lightning!”

            Startled by her own reaction, she was even more startled to notice that the boy suddenly perked up, as if an idea had just entered his head and began an incantation.

            The thundara spell lit up the room and the demon, who was about to release an attack of his own, was stunned, curling up into a ball.

            Bolstered by this new success, Tellah assisted the boy, releasing a thundaga spell. Rydia was so excited by this change in developments that she was caught off-guard by another changing of scenes. She was in a different corridor, and the king, or water demon rather, was absent. Everyone was still alive and on their feet, if a little wet and looking battered. Rydia wondered what had just happened, had they really defeated the demon and she missed it? There was another man with them now as well, with a long red beard and peculiar goggles strapped to his face. Rydia had no idea who he was, but the group was moving through the corridor at a normal speed to her eyes when the walls began to shift and close in around them.

            The scene shifted again. This time Cecil was gone but she and the queen were still in the same hallway. It had shrunk significantly, but there were two stone statues remaining that Rydia didn’t recall being there before. She walked over to them and looked more closely. They were a boy and a girl with ponytails worn high on their heads, holding the walls back with outstretched arms.

            Rydia looked at them both in shock and stepped back.

            “These can’t be—but how—”

            “I told you the visions were often hard to discern.”

            “But why has it jumped to all these different events and why were some of them happening at the same speed as our world?”

            “A time flux. It happens from time to time. It seems Cagnazzo has been defeated, but at a cost. These young ones, whoever they were, have sacrificed themselves for your friend’s escape.”

            “Can it be undone?”

            “Not from here.

            “Why this?” Rydia cried out in her grief. The image of the stoned twins bothered her greatly. “They were my age and not even they escaped Golbez’s trap.”

            “I never said the spell could not be _undone_ , I just said not from here,” the queen said coolly from behind her. “I do not believe their lives have been lost.”

            No matter what the queen said, the image haunted her. “I’ve seen enough.”

            “Very well,” and with that the spell was ended and the surroundings melted back into what they really were, wooden planking and tiers with buildings built upon them. The city of the summons surrounded Rydia with glaring familiarity.

            “Thank you again for showing me this,” Rydia told the queen, choking back her nerves.

            The queen simply looked at her. “You asked for the important events and that’s what I gave you. If you can’t handle them, I don’t see what the point is in torturing you.”

            “No! No, I want to see them still. I just wasn’t expecting….”

            “Be prepared to expect the unexpected. When you go looking through time there’s no telling what you might see. However, from here on, I don’t think I will show you any more battles. That has proven to be too much for you.”

            Rydia bit her tongue and forced herself to be grateful that the queen wasn’t going to stop showing her anything altogether. “Thank you,” she said finally.

            “Return to your studies. I have nothing more to offer you today.”

            Rydia watched the queen as she retreated up the arena stairs and out of sight. Several things ran through her mind. _The elementals_ she thought. Asura meant to warn her of elementals so long ago. Had it been that she had given Rydia a forewarning of these demons without trying to raise her concerns? She couldn’t be sure. Elementals were everywhere, here in the summoned land and also in the human realm.

Thinking back to the last image of the vision, she was filled with grief. The two stone children still caused her heart to skip a beat and fill her with fear. If they as mages from Mysidia had fallen from the journey, how would she have done in their place? Would she have turned herself to stone to save them all? Would she have lived that long if Leviathan hadn’t rescued her?

            She suddenly thought of Shiva and her lessons. She was here precisely for the purpose of that not happening, to strengthen herself and become a high summoner so she wouldn’t fall in the battle to save everything she held dear. She walked out of the arena to the living district of the city, wanting to pay one more visit to Shiva.

            The door to Shiva’s home opened slowly and she looked down at Rydia, puzzled.

            “I saw you this morning. What are you doing back here?”

            “Shiva, do you still think I’m not ready?

            Shiva allowed Rydia into her house where she had a cup of cold tea with peppermint on the table. She prepared another one for Rydia and offered her a seat.

            Rydia had only been to Shiva’s home a few times, but she’d become used to the ice summon’s hospitality. She preferred a cold tea and as a result, so did Rydia.

            “You’re tired of reading already?”

            “The reading is all fascinating and good, but I keep thinking there must be more. I’m eager to try.”

            “Black tells me that you’ve been having unusual dreams lately.”

            Rydia was a bit startled. “I’ve been seeing visions of my companions—things that haven’t happened yet. Sometimes they’re strong and sometimes they’re not, but I never know if I’m seeing something that’s already happened or is going to happen soon or farther away.”

            “Can you control them?”

            Rydia thought about it. “Not really.”

            “But they make you think you’re running out of time.”

            “Can we at least try the summoning spells, just to see if I’m doing the theories properly?”

            “Rydia, the higher summons are much more difficult than the summoning of a chocobo. It takes a considerably large amount of energy and concentration to successfully call one of us.”

            “I won’t know unless I try.”

            Shiva studied her. “Take my advice. Visions are visions, no matter what you make of them. Trust your human friends to take care of their own matters and allow us to take care of your studies. Make your preparations and in a few month’s time we’ll talk of this again. Is that good enough for you?”

            Rydia quelled her frustration. “Is that a promise?

            “Do you want it to be?”

            “I’d really like to be sure about it,” she replied.

            “Very well. I promise that in a few months we will begin. Can you wait that long?”

“I’ll wait,” Rydia answered, although it came out a bit more petulantly than she intended.

            “You’re not behind, Rydia. Just give yourself some more time to prepare. Each summoning is a test. You have to pass it in order to gain our support.”

            Rydia nodded. She knew. She just didn’t know the exact nature of each test.

            Shiva smiled slightly, a rare sight. “If I were you, I’d get back to training. You can be sure your first test won’t be easy.”

            Rydia set her cup down and stood up. “Can you at least tell me who I’ll be tested against?”

            Shiva looked at her calmly, showing she was not about to be rushed. “Let’s just say it will be a surprise.”


	19. Chapter 19

Three months had passed. Rydia felt as prepared as she could ever be for something she didn’t know very much about. She’d read a lot of the books on summoning, of course. She knew about the challenges, but what she’d be challenged with? That was another matter.

            With thoughts of Cecil and the others battling demons and knowing they were making their own sacrifices, she wanted to take the next step in her training. If they could fight demons, surely she could win a challenge against a summon.

            She left her home early in the morning and returned to the arena, a place that had become a second home to her of sorts. Shiva stood in the center, waiting. She was in her true summon form, glistening with cold authority.

            Rydia approached her, armed and ready. She stopped a fair distance away from Shiva and looked at her expectantly, waiting for instructions.

            “Are you armed?”

            “Yes,” Rydia answered, though unsure if her weapons would do any good.

            “Fight me,” Shiva continued. “If you successfully defeat me I will assist you.”

            Rydia’s eyes went wide. _Fight_? Suddenly she felt entirely unprepared.

            Shiva eyed her and eased into a battle stance. She shifted all her weight to one leg and began an incantation. Rydia stared at the ice summon’s calm demeanor, at her cool approach to all of this, and began to panic.

            _She’s an ice summon, Rydia, she’s weak against fire!_

            Rydia realized she would have to move fast before Shiva released her spell. The different ways to use the fira spell crossed her mind, and she began a hasty incantation of her own. She directed her spell at Shiva’s and cast it at exactly the moment Shiva cast hers, melting the ice spell in mid-air before it ever reached her.

            Shiva smiled, but her eyes hardened with determination. She began another incantation.

            Back and forth they went. Shiva with ice, Rydia with fire. Shiva began a different tactic and started to change the directions of her attacks, forcing Rydia to dodge and counter in different ways.

            Rydia managed to keep the ice summon at bay, but only just barely. Her head was buzzing and it was harder for her to maintain her barrage of fira spells the more she had to cast them. Refusing to directly attack Shiva, her own teacher, their unusual dance of spells continued.

            Shiva, knowing that Rydia was approaching her last reserves of energy, moved to the final part of her test. She prepared herself to release her innate power--not enough to seriously harm Rydia, but enough to give her a shock of extreme cold.

            Rydia watched Shiva pause and build her energy. She knew what this meant. She prepared another fira spell, changing the words so that instead of surrounding Shiva, it would surround her instead, encasing her in a wall of flames. The idea frightened her, but it was the only strategy she had and hoped she cast correctly.

            Shiva released her attack, Rydia released her spell, and in a great display of clashing forces, Rydia’s wall of flames held against Shiva’s shards of ice. The ice danced around the flames, circling them like wind blown leaves, until finally cooling off the fire and snuffing it down to the ground. Both spells cancelled the other and Rydia stood where she was, unharmed, but without the energy to cast another spell. She was about to go for a dagger, thinking the challenge wasn’t finished when Shiva raised a hand.

            “Enough. You’ve proven yourself to me today. I’ve never witnessed tactics quite like yours and will heed your call should you need me in the future. I grant you my name.”

            Rydia’s arms went slack in surprise. But Shiva had gone easy on her! And Rydia knew she’d expended all her energy with nothing to fall back on! Shiva’s words washed over her. She passed? Suddenly from all around her she heard sounds of approval and turned to find the sides of the arena host to several summons observing the events down below with interest. Black was among them and he trotted up to her, excitement on his spotted face.

            “You did it!” he exclaimed. “Strangest battle of magics I’ve ever seen, but you did alright for yourself!”

            Rydia glanced up at Shiva and the summon merely gave her a hint of a smile before walking away.

            Black had jumped so that his front paws were resting on her hip. He was looking up at her intently. “Why didn’t you directly attack her?” he asked.

            “I—because it wouldn’t have been right,” she answered, still replaying the test in her mind.

            He gave her a catlike smile

            “Shiva’s always been one to give summoners a hard time. Once I heard that she nearly killed a man before allowing herself to be called to his service. Not one of her previous masters ever tried a different approach.”

            “Well, if you think about it, Black, she’s _my_ master. I couldn’t hurt her!”

            “Nicely done.”

            Rydia smiled in relief. “So…I can summon Shiva now,” she said to herself.

            “You’ve gained your first serious summon,” he said happily. Rydia couldn’t remember him ever sounding so happy before.

            She suddenly thought of all this meant. “But, Black, it’s only been two years! I’ve got so long to go--what am I going to do with all that time?”

            “You have more summons’ names to earn.”

            The crowd that had gathered was now spreading apart.

            “Did they really all come to watch me?” Rydia asked, watching all the observers leave.

            “When someone challenges Shiva, people watch.”

            Rydia looked again and saw the burly form of Ifrit watching her from a distance. He didn’t look too pleased.

            “Black, what’s the longest time Ifrit’s held a grudge for?”

            He looked and saw what she meant. “He’s hot blooded. It’s his business to be angry.”

            “But for hitting him with a blizzard spell so long ago?”

            “You’re human, that makes it all the worse. He’s already had to teach you fira, and now you’ve gained the support of Shiva, his rival. Expect him to be looking at you like that for a long time.”

            Rydia frowned. “Will things here ever be normal?”

            “Normal by your standards or ours?”

            “You know what I mean—will any of us ever be able to get along with each other?”

            “They’ve been living together for thousands of years. You’re new and unexpected—and human.”

            “I didn’t start this.”

            “No, but you’re here to finish it. Ignore him. You’ve got other things to worry about.”

            Rydia accepted Black’s advice and returned with him to her home. Waiting for her on the table in her room was a long ash rod, cool to the touch.

            Black rushed forward to investigate. “Ah, the Sylphs!” he said. “This is a weapon fit for an ice elemental!”

            Rydia examined it. “But why is it here?”

            “A gift for passing your test with Shiva, I’d imagine. It allows you to channel more power into your ice spells.”

            Rydia passed her hands along the smooth wood. “My mother had a rod like this once, only hers was red and highly polished,” she said, remembering.

            “It was a Titan’s rod,” Black added, surprising her.

            “You know of it?”

            “I was with her when she came across it,” he explained. “She was traveling in the mountains between Mist and Toroia. That’s when I met her. She was on an errand I think, something about herbs and someone named Rowan. Anyway, the village she visited knew of me, and they thought a talking cat in the mountains would bring a great curse upon them. Arya stumbled across me in the forest and asked if I would join her on her journey to Mist, to keep her company and keep me away from the other village, saying she had no fear of curses or talking cats. Well, as luck would have it, she did run into trouble in the mountains and summoned Mist to help her. There was a cave nearby where a giant was living and in the confusion of the battle he dropped the rod he was holding and it rolled down the slope to where your mother was hiding. It’s a powerful rod, one capable of holding great power in the gemstone set at its top.”

            “That explains it,” Rydia said distantly.

            “Explains what?”

            “How I was able to summon Titan. I’d completely forgotten.”

            Black’s eyes went wide. “That was _you?_ ”

            “Yes, I’d—it was in the middle of the attack on our village. I picked up my mother’s rod and willed something to happen. The rod did the rest and before I knew it, there was a titan right in front of me and the whole valley collapsed around the village.”

            “You summoned Titan? When you were seven and completely untrained?”

            “I told you, it was the rod that did most of the work, I just thought of what I wanted and it happened.”

            “He must have thought you were your mother,” Black mused. “Titan and Mist had been summoned at fairly the same time. Only he returned and Mist didn’t. Then there was nothing. Nothing, that is, until you summoned Halcyon.”

            “Who’s Halcyon?”

            “The chocobo you summoned. His name is Halcyon.”

            “Really?”

            “I thought it sounded a bit pompous for nothing but an oversized bird myself.”

            She gave him a glance. “You’re nothing but an oversized cat, and Black isn’t even your real name.”

            He sat up straight and made himself appear regal—very catlike. “I’m travel sized, and Black is perfectly suitable. It’s mysterious and dark.”

            “It’s a color.”

            “It’s so much more than a color!” he protested. “It invokes a whole mood and adds a whole new level of fear and danger.”

            She raised her brows. “It still doesn’t make sense to me that a spotted cat would choose a solid colored name.”

            “Did you honestly think I’d let myself be called ‘Spots’?”

            Rydia hid her grin. “No…I was just expecting something a bit more…official. Halcyon has a proper name,” she pointed out.

            “I have a proper name.”

            “So what is it?” Rydia asked, toying with him.

            “None of your business!”

            She ignored him and looked at the rod again. She’d done it. She was one step closer to achieving her goal.

            She wondered what her mother would think if she saw her now, living in the summoned land and being trained by magical beings. The thought brought a smile to her lips.

            “What are you smiling about?” Black asked, breaking her reverie.

            Rydia looked up. “I was just thinking about what my mother would have said to all this.”

            “She probably would have said something sassy to all of us. ‘Stop giving my daughter such a hard time!’”

            Rydia giggled. “Was she like me when she was younger?”

            Black paused, thinking. “I think you’re a tad bit sassier, but you two were very much alike.”

            “So she was in the mountains?” she asked again, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t remember her telling me she ever left the village.”

            “She was. But now answer something for me. You keep talking about your mother, what ever happened to your father? Was he in the village when—”

            “I never knew my father,” Rydia said slowly. “My mother never spoke of him, not ever.”

            “How strange. Because as close as she was to a lot of us, she never mentioned a husband or having a daughter.”

            “I asked her about him once. She said to ask again when I was older and now I’ll never have that chance.”

            “He must not have been from the village, then.”

            “There are so many things I never found out about,” Rydia admitted. “I hope that someday I’ll find the answers to some of them; after the war is ended, and if I’m still alive.”

            Rydia was still standing near the table and Black on a chair, but after her last comment he jumped up onto the table and batted her nose with a paw.

            “You help us, we’ll help you. And if no one else but me will, then you’ve already got the best of summon-kind at your disposal. I’m confident your friend Cecil will bring an end to this war that Golbez started and we’ll be by your side as well. You’ve already got two summons ready to answer your call. Just think of how the odds will be in your favor with more of us fighting with you. You’ll have your whole life still ahead of you and plenty of time for asking questions. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

            Rydia knew he was trying to lift her spirits, but she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret.

            “Will you really help me?”

            He sat back on his haunches. “The girl who just defeated Shiva in a challenge asking me this? How could I refuse? Besides, there’s no telling what you might do to me if I didn’t, and then there would be endless amounts of whining and complaining and—”

            “Thank you, Black,” she interrupted him.

            “Don’t mention it.”


	20. Chapter 20

Six months passed and since her challenge with Shiva, Rydia had been driven back to her readings. Somehow she thought of this as backwards progress. She’d hoped to be free of it for a while, practicing more magic, but she was wrong.

            “You need to get through the first three shelves of the library before I’ve even begun to consider you’ve mastered the intermediate summoning spells,” Shiva kept telling her every time Rydia asked who her next challenge would be against.

            She’d developed a great desire to try something rebellious in the midst of all her readings, but somehow Black always managed to get in the way. His constant nagging and prodding kept her grudgingly on track. She had, however, thrown a book at him once, a small one, but with enough force to cause him to jump several feet in the air when it landed on his tail.

            Whenever he entered her house thereafter, it was with his tail tucked under his body, making him look like some pitiful tailless animal, not catlike in the least.

            “How are the readings coming? Have you found any clue to breaking the spell we’re all under?” he asked on a day Rydia was thoroughly tired of looking at old script.

            In truth, she hadn’t been thinking about the containment spell at all lately. “Not much,” she admitted to him, not letting him know that her attentions had been directed elsewhere.

            “I wonder what volumes they hid it in…”

            “Black, what’s the first thing you’d do outside of the spell?” she asked, changing the subject.

            “Well I’d—I don’t know. I can’t really say any of my summoning experiences were bad, so there wouldn’t be much of a change for me.”

            “But if you were free to come and go as you chose, without a summoner’s magic keeping you alive, what would you do?”

            “I’d probably go back to Toroia just to see what’s happened there since I left.”

“You and Ramuh could both go,” Rydia suggested. “He can tend to his trees and you can catch mice.”

“Catch mice? Please. I’m a great and mighty summon. Catching mice is beneath me.”

“Oh sure,” Rydia said in mock exasperation, flopping down on her bed and flipping through another book with casual interest.

“Are you actually going to read that?”

“Are you going to stop bothering me?”

He launched himself at her, landing on her back and pulling on her hair with his teeth.

“Ow!” she cried out, pushing him off of her. “I’ll read it when I’m good and ready to read it! Pulling hair is not allowed!”

“You’ve been impatient and sloppy for weeks. Just because you have Shiva’s support doesn’t mean you should get cocky. And those dreams of yours haven’t been helping much either.”

“Well, it’s strange knowing that my friends are out there fighting a war and I’m here reading books.”

“Seven more years, Rydia.”

“I _know_.”

“It’s not that long. You still have some more spells to learn, some more lore and history, and you’ve a few more summons to earn the right of calling. Besides, the way you use that whip of yours, you’re still likely to do more damage to yourself than any monsters.”

She looked at him petulantly. “I’m not _that_ bad.”

“Rydia. You’re horrific with weapons.”

She dramatically rolled her eyes. “Did you come here to encourage or discourage me?”

“I’m trying to wake you up. You’ve got things to be doing and you keep biting your fingers as if that’ll make time go faster. I’ll bet your time here will go by so fast that before you know it, you’ll be back with your human friends and forgotten all about us. We’ll just be a distant memory, and saving the world from its madness will be the only thing you care about.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes it is.”

“Black, how could I forget the people that helped raise me? I’m going to break this spell, I made a promise, didn’t I?”

“All well and good, but you’ll never break it if you don’t start _reading_.”

“Alright, you. Out!”

He made a face and walked away with his tail raised defiantly in the air.

“I’d be careful with that tail of yours!” she warned.

He glared at her and then with fearful eyes, sprinted out the door as another book came hurtling through the air, hitting the wall behind where he was standing with tremendous force.

 

………………

 

With Black gone, Rydia walked over to the book she had mercilessly abused and picked it up. It was still remarkably in good condition as she brushed it off. She had to admit it. She was becoming more impatient as the days wore on. She was tired of spending most of her time indoors and less of it _doing_ something. She wanted to learn on the move, but everyone kept telling her she wasn’t ready for that yet. If those other two children could learn their spells traveling, why couldn’t she? She forced the image of them in stone out of her mind and convinced herself that it wouldn’t happen to her. She could do it.

With a heavy sigh she set the book down and decided to go for a walk to clear her mind. She couldn’t remember half of what she’d already read that morning. She’d hit a rather boring stretch of books, all written by older men who had catalogued their summoning successes and observations. Most of it Rydia already knew just from living among the summons, but Shiva still expected a full review of each book to be sure Rydia read them, so there wasn’t much she could do but oblige. She thought that if Shiva couldn’t read the books written in the summoner’s language, that she wouldn’t be able to tell if Rydia had read a particular book or not. She was wrong. Shiva had other methods to discern what the truth of the matter was.

It was frustrating. Was this what other ten year olds were doing in the human realm? Was this what other mages were subjected to? She imagined not. No human could be as much of a task master as Shiva was. No one had the fate of summon-kind resting on their shoulders either, or the responsibility of being the last of their people.

 _I’m going to be a slave to these books forever!_ She thought, not looking where she was going after she stepped off of the portal to reach the city’s residential district. She bumped into someone and hastily snapped to attention, looking up into the sour face of Ifrit. She gulped and supplied a quick apology, hoping he’d let her go about her business.

He had other ideas. “Well if it isn’t Shiva’s little pet, and Ramuh’s too.”

“I’m sorry, Ifrit, I didn’t mean to bump into you, I was just—”

“You were just on your way, you meant to say? Don’t know what good it’ll do you. Nothing you can do will prepare you for what’s out there. You’re _weak,_ that’s what you are. So fine, go about your way and waste your time on all those studies. You’ll just end up dying in the end and no amount of knowledge will save you from where you lack in experience.”

Rydia was shocked and dangerously close to tears. Why was he telling her this? It was like all her own worst fears exposed right in front of her. Was she dreaming? No. She was very much awake.

“I don’t want any trouble, Ifrit.”

“Trouble? But that’s what you _are_. You’ve been nothing but trouble since you got here. You’re a blemish, you’re one of _them._ I taught you how to use fira and you use it to gain the trust of Shiva. Bah, you’re nothing but a little opportunist.”

His words buffeted her like gale force winds. Why was he choosing now to confront her? Why did he wait all this time to tell her he thought she was nothing but a no-good human?

“I’m no trouble to you,” she said, making her voice as steady as possible.

He snorted. “Of course you are. You’ve upset the way we live here, stirred up the waters, and I’ll have none of it. We don’t need humans and you’re no exception,” he said, jabbing her on the shoulder with a finger.

Rydia looked at him with rising terror. Where was this heading? He was in human form out of courtesy, but she could still see his true form peeking around the edges--in his eyes, around his shoulders. Was he preparing to attack her?

“Leave me alone! I’m only trouble because that’s what you’ve made me out to be! You’re nothing but a bully and I’m done being afraid of you!”

He threw his head back and laughed, something that sounded more like a roar than anything else. “Afraid? If this is you scared, I can only begin to imagine what terror looks like.”

She jumped back as he altogether abandoned his human guise. His true form was almost blinding, a constant flame burning along his body. He looked like a demon she’d read about, complete with horns and sharp teeth and the gleam in his eyes screamed a desire to fight.

She was definitely not as strong as Ifrit, but she was fast. Her training for the past two years with Black had paid off. She was agile and swift and she left him in hard pursuit. She began an incantation as she ran, readying it for when she’d actually need it.

She ran between buildings, and then back around, trying to lose him, but he was not easy to shake off. As she ran, she felt a searing heat snap cross her ankles and she cried out in pain. What was wrong with him?

Finding a wide open space on the road, she released her spell. Blizzara surged out of the air and formed a wall of ice between her and Ifrit. She hoped it would buy her some time but he crashed through it, shattering it to bits.

She looked around frantically, wondering where the rest of the summons were. Was no one going to do anything about this? She thought of a quick plan and then sprinted directly toward Ifrit, passing him and running in the direction of Shiva’s house. Shiva had to notice something was wrong when loud explosions went off near her front door, she thought.

Ifrit pivoted rather ungracefully to catch up to her and began the chase again. He hurled fire at her as she ran, singing her back and her legs. Her ankles hurt considerably from his first attack, but she kept running. Then something she hadn’t expected happened. She was on the wrong street! She ran into a dead end and turned around, fear apparent in her green eyes. She thought back to all her spells and another plan developed. Ifrit in the meantime had caught up with her and with burning fists tried to land some blows. She hopped away and dodged all his attacks. She was small and fast and held the advantage. He just couldn’t touch her when she was up close. Thinking she was finally prepared, she let loose a fira spell. But instead of aiming it at Ifrit, she surrounded herself much the same way she had done in her battle with Shiva. Ifrit, thinking Rydia had just doomed herself, released a full force wave of fire in her direction. Instead of hitting her as he’d planned, it fueled the fire caused by her own spell.

He stared at the circle of fire furiously, only to be stunned backwards by a new and unexpected attack. Snow? No, a blizzara spell. It fell on him in tiny flakes, chilling his flames into submission, and stinging like a thousand tiny needles. It was infuriating, but not insufferable. When the spell ran itself out, Rydia’s voice called through the fire wall that was still burning on its own.

“I told you I didn’t want trouble! If you don’t leave me alone I’ll cast another blizzara spell and then you’ll see just how much trouble I _can_ be!”

Ifrit paced around the wall of flames, grunting in his displeasure and trying to shake off the last bits of ice from the blizzara spell. _Clever girl_ , he thought.

“I won’t harm you,” he said at last. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll like you any better.”

Rydia cast another blizzara spell and calmed the flaming circle around her to the ground. She stood in the center of a charred circle, burned into the wooden planking by their encounter. She was singed in several places and a few locks of her hair had been ruthlessly crisped. Her green eyes were no longer fearful, they were angry.

“You’re not as weak as I thought,” Ifrit went on, forcing the words out of his mouth. “If this is how you’ll fight your enemies, then I imagine I’d be better off staying on the side that isn’t in the path of your attacks.”

Rydia’s expression nearly folded in on itself. What was he saying?

He detached the fiery whip from his side and tossed it at her where it landed in a coiled heap at her feet.

“Ifrit, what does this mean?”

“I’ll come when you call, but only because I think you’ve earned that right and not because I’m bound to honor the contract of the spell. You wouldn’t get very far with only Shiva, anyway. Ten of her strongest magics aren’t worth one of mine,” he said haughtily. “Of course, that still doesn’t mean I’ve taken a liking to you, but I wasn’t going to take orders lying on my back.”

Rydia nodded dumbly, the pain from his attacks still stinging. “Thank you for the honor,” she said. “And the whip!”

He looked at her snidely and then walked off. His flames rekindling along his back.

She looked down at the whip and reached to pick it up. She should have known better, but it took her brain a little longer to register the pain before the injury was already done.

“Ouch!” she yelped, clutching her burnt hand and inspecting the damage. She glared at the whip. _Leave it to Ifrit to have one final word_ , she thought bitterly.

She knew she couldn’t just leave it there, so she tentatively reached down again and poked it with one finger. It wasn’t hot anymore, the fire seemed to have been squelched when it burned her hand. She slipped the coil around her shoulder and this time headed in the correct direction of Shiva’s home to tell her what had happened.

Before she could get halfway there, Black ran up to her. “What happened to you!” he said, shocked by her appearance. “Did one of the books fight back?”

Rydia shook her head, still trying to wrap her head around what had just happened.

“It was Ifrit. He just…picked a fight and chased after me. I beat him back in the end and suddenly he agreed to be summoned by me.”

“He _what_?” Black was incredulous.

“Doesn’t make sense to me either,” she admitted, feeling a bit light headed from her afternoon’s activities.

“Shiva’s going to ice his hide!” Black hooted.

“I hope not. I’d rather not start any more trouble today,” Rydia said weakly.

He looked her up and down. “Yes, you do look a bit crispy.”

They reached Shiva’s house together and Black jiggled the handle.

The door opened and Shiva was once again looking at Rydia in baffled surprise.

“What is it with you lately?” she asked in dismay, hurrying them both inside.

Rydia gave Shiva the cut and dry version, and Shiva sat back in her chair in disbelief. “He did _what_?”

“That’s what I said!” Black added.

“That’s the strangest thing…what could have--” Shiva just shook her head. “I’m going to ice his hide!” she shouted, slamming her fist on the table.

Black gave Rydia a winning smile, complete with fangs and everything. Rydia just looked at him miserably. Was the day never going to end?

“Why were you in this part of the city today anyway?”

“I was taking a walk!” Rydia cried pitifully. “I wasn’t looking for trouble, it just found me! As always!”

Shiva and Black just stared at her.

“Alright, give me that hand of yours,” Shiva said, moving away from an apparently sore subject to a physically painful one.

Rydia extended her arm and Shiva took a look at the burn. “He got you good, that’s for sure,” Shiva said, clicking her tongue.

Rydia watched as she applied a thick salve to her hand and her ankles.

 _This is what I get for wanting to practice my magic. Next time maybe I’ll just stick to the books,_ she thought miserably.

 


	21. Chapter 21

The burns Rydia had endured from her encounter with Ifrit were slow to heal. She’d been unable to do much of anything with her bandaged right hand and with her ankles swollen she wasn’t able to practice in the arena with Black or Shiva. Black thought her circumstances were hilarious.

“Maybe now you’ll focus on your studies instead of running away with your thoughts.”

She threw another projectile at him, hitting him square in the face.

“By the way, just thought you should know; Shiva did a number on Ifrit last week. You should have seen his backside!” he happily announced, rubbing his injured forehead.

This did bring a small grin to Rydia’s face. It had been two months since their fight and she was still nursing her injuries and a certain amount of uncharitable feelings toward the fire summon.

Since she’d been unable to do anything physical, it was back to books. For a while Rydia preferred to be indoors, away from Ifrit and any other would-be attackers, but once again her restlessness returned. She was surprised when Shiva changed their routine and came to her unannounced one afternoon.

“Rydia, I have a task for you. There’s a spell I want you to learn.”

Rydia, always eager to try something new, perked up. “What is it?”

“I want you to learn the warp spell.”

“The warp spell?”

“I’ll have another task for you once you’ve finished it.”

That had been the previous week. Rydia had studied the warp spell all week and tested it a few times, transporting herself to different parts of the arena.

Shiva returned to her during one of her practice sessions and told her the next stage of the task.

“I want you to use the spell to transport yourself out of the caverns. When you’re there, summon me. Now we’ll see if you can put into practice what you’ve been reading about.”

Rydia saw the challenge in front of her. She’d never warped that far before, and honestly didn’t know if she’d make it.

“You’ll be fine. Just concentrate,” Shiva assured her. “Once you’re outside of the caverns, summon me. I’ll come.”

Rydia took a deep breath and prepared to do as Shiva had asked. She began the incantation and allowed herself to be pulled by the magic’s energy to the destination she’d given it.

She was surprised when she opened her eyes to see the harsh landscape of the underground. The warmth of the magma sea closed in around her and her breathing quickened to account for the change in pressure against her chest. The first part of her task had been successful. Now for the second part…

Looking around her at the unusual sights, she noticed unusual stone projections rising out of the ground looking like claws of giant creatures that had been trapped that way for ages. What a strange place this was! She didn’t remember it looking this way when Ramuh brought her here. She began picking her way across the red ground to one of the stone rises, curious to explore. Once at its top, she looked around the edge of the island, staring across the magma’s expanse. There was definitely no way she was going to leave this island without the help of the summons.

She wondered idly if the time distortion that governed her in the city still held where she was standing. Was she back in the same time frame as Cecil?

The magma’s flow was slow and lethargic, and in some places, not moving at all. She figured she was still in the distortion after all, but was amazed by how far it reached. Was the Summoned Land really so powerful a magic field?

She gazed for a few minutes longer, imagining what it would look like if it were a real ocean of water. Images of her ride in Edward’s hovercraft between Damcyan and Kaipo filled her thoughts. How she missed the feeling of ocean spray on her face and a cool wind on her skin.

A strange noise behind her quickly made her turn. For a moment she’d forgotten that she was alone in a place thriving with monsters. She looked around cautiously but saw nothing. She took a few steps away from the edge of the outcrop she was standing on and gripped the ice rod she’d brought with her tightly in her hands.

Without warning, two gigantic moth-like creatures sprang up from behind a large clump of boulders. They were her size with a wingspan twice as wide--gold and green, and iridescent. They beat their wings furiously, sending gusts of warm air against Rydia’s face.

She immediately went into a blizzara incantation, hoping to stun them. She released it and sent ice flying into them both. It hit them and tore their wings, sending them fluttering to the ground. One of them, still able to move, countered her attack and with tattered wings, blew a glistening powder in her direction. Not sure what to make of this turn of events, Rydia was unprepared to react as the powder coated her skin. It burned her eyes and made them water. The pain forced them shut and she forced her panic away and focused on what she came here to do in the first place, summon Shiva.

She finished the summoning incantation and waited, feeling the pull of something powerful on her energy.  

She heard a sudden gust of wind and stones cracking with cold. The clinking of ice, like falling glass, filled her ears and then there was nothing. Suddenly the pain on her eyes was gone and she looked up blearily to see Shiva holding a small phial in her hand.

“To cure the blindness,” she explained at Rydia’s puzzled expression.

Rydia looked at where the moths had been, rubbing her face free of the excess tears. They were small lumps with icicles piercing them to the ground.

“You should have called me sooner. What took you so long?” Shiva asked, sounded agitated.

“What do you mean? I only just got here and looked around.”

“I waited an entire day for you to summon me.”

“A day?” Rydia asked, confused. “But it’s only been maybe half an hour!”

Shiva rested a hand on her hip. “The time distortion,” she muttered.

“Aren’t we still in it?”

“Yes and no. You’re still influenced by it, but not as strongly as you would be inside the city or even in the caverns. The farther away you get, the greater the differences in time. I should have known.”

Rydia tried to understand all this.

“It’s really been a day down in the city?”

“It has. I thought something had happened to you, and come all this way to find you blinded. I’m just glad I didn’t find you dead.”

Rydia was curious by the summon’s words. “But I’m not dead.”

“No, you’re not, but it was enough of a worry.”

“It worked!” Rydia suddenly said, looking at Shiva anew. “The summoning, it worked!”

“Did you think it wouldn’t?”

“No, but it’s always nice to know you’ve done something right.”

“You realize that the longer you keep me here, the more energy you’re consuming. You may dismiss me, but return quickly. There are other creatures like those lurking about.”

Rydia nodded, giving the orders of dismissal. Shiva vanished in a sparkling cloud and Rydia quickly followed with the warp spell, returning herself to the arena. It was night, but Shiva was still there, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed.

“It’s been a few hours,” she reported. “I’ll think about how to go about this in the future, but now I suggest a good night’s rest. It’s been a long day.”

Rydia agreed, observing that Shiva was the one who looked in need of rest. She imagined there would be a lot to talk about in the morning, and figured it was for the best to catch up on her sleep while she could. Leave it to her to make a simple task much harder than it had to be.   

 

            Sure enough, the next morning Black was ready to greet her.

            “How’d it go? Shiva was really worried when a day had gone by and you still hadn’t summoned her. What were you doing out there?”

            “It hadn’t been that long. Shiva said it was the time distortion,” Rydia replied defensively.

            “She was about ready to never have you do it again, the way things were going yesterday.”

            “She was that worried?”

            “She was pacing.”

            Rydia raised her brows. “I was caught off-guard by some monsters, and one of them blinded me before I summoned Shiva. I didn’t mean for things to get that close, but it all worked out in the end.”

            Black shook his head. “Well I’m glad that’s all that happened. Ramuh just about panicked too. He kept saying he should have gone with you.”

            “I was only out there maybe half an hour by myself!”

            “Why did you wait half an hour?”

            “I was—looking around.”

            “There’s not much to see. It’s all magma and rocks.”

            Rydia made a face. She didn’t want to say she’d been daydreaming again. It was becoming a very bad habit of hers.

            “I wanted to get a better feel for the land,” she lied. “I didn’t realize it would be so long for everyone here.”

            “I’ve never seen Shiva so bothered. She almost didn’t go to Ramuh to tell him that you weren’t back yet. When she finally did he looked about ready to cast thundaga on her, and I’ve never seen him do that either.”

            Rydia felt touched that so many of the summons cared enough about her to get that out of sorts. It also made her feel guilty.

            “I really didn’t think it would be that long,” she said again.

            “I myself wasn’t worried,” he told her.

            “Oh.”

            “I was slightly _concerned_ , but I figured you could handle things.”

            Rydia stared at him in shock. “Some help you’d be in a pinch!” she pointed out.

            The door to Rydia’s house suddenly opened again, she was used to people never knocking before entering these days, and Shiva walked in, back in her human guise.

            She looked at the two of them and then hastily looked at Rydia, as if to be sure she was still there. “I’m sorry I scolded you,” she said quickly. “It wasn’t your fault.”

            Rydia didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

            “As you know, news likes to travel quickly around here. A few of us have decided that due to this unexpected result in the time distortion and the fact that having you travel alone is too dangerous at this time, someone should be with you. Black, since you already assist Rydia, we’ve decided that person should be you.”

            Rydia burst out laughing and Shiva stared at her critically. “What’s so funny?”

            Rydia tried to stifle her laughter but it kept coming. Shiva looked at Black then back at Rydia.

            “I don’t understand what’s going on here. We’re trying to keep you safe and you laugh like it’s an absurd idea!”

            “Black—he thinks—” her laughter started to die down into giggles. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to be serious.

            “She can’t see me fighting any battles, that’s what,” Black said sourly.

            Shiva raised a brow. “In battle I have no idea how well you’d do, but we were thinking as an extra pair of eyes. We couldn’t spare anyone else. We chose you because you don’t need that much energy to support your essence outside of the city.”

            “Oh,” Black said, his pride deflated.

            “You’ll be looking after her, and knowing that someone else is with her is just an added precaution. I’m sorry to say I didn’t think of it sooner.”

            “Thank you for the consideration,” Rydia told Shiva.

            “The next time we try this, I’ll be sure Black is with us.”

            He nodded, and then Shiva turned to leave. “Find me in the arena later today, Rydia. There’s something I’d like to show you concerning the blizzara spell,” she said before she exited the room.

            Rydia turned to Black who was still nursing his wounded pride.

            “It’s alright, Black. I still believe you’re secretly the most powerful summon of all,” she said with a slight giggle in her voice.

            “So how’s that saving the world thing working out for you?” he muttered under his breath.

            Rydia glared at him. “That’s what you get for boasting! Don’t take it out on me!”

            He walked over to the door, ready to follow Shiva’s example. “You remember what Shiva said; more practice in the arena today for you. If it does happen to involve time travel and other sorts of trouble, don’t be expecting this all all-powerful summon to bail you out of trouble. I might just feed you to one of those monsters if I feel so inclined.”

            “Oh, stop being such a sourpuss! Besides, you get to leave the city. Maybe do some exploring?”

            “Go explore some more books!” he said and trotted out, though Rydia knew he’d be better tempered and back within the hour. 

 


	22. Chapter 22

            Five months, and Rydia had been traveling back and forth between the caverns and the city, Black always by her side. She was getting better at figuring out what strategies to use when she summoned, directing Shiva’s attacks, and sparing her energies until she absolutely needed them. She learned when to summon and when not to. Her own magic was becoming effective against some of the monsters she discovered in the hot landscape outside of the caverns, and her tactics had become a pattern of hit and run with some of the other monsters. Some days she would see just how long she could last before she needed to call on Shiva for assistance.

As the time went on, her burns completely healed. Her right hand still bore the trace of a scar across the palm, but she didn’t mind it too much. It served as a reminder of what she’d been though, and also how far she’d already come.

            When she wasn’t training with Shiva, she was moving quickly through some of the books written in the summoner’s language. It had been tricky at first to understand the new characters, but she remembered how many of the words sounded and what they meant from hearing it spoken in Mist, and learning the basic words helped her overcome many of the others. She’d also been lucky enough to find a primer of the basic letters and sentence structures that helped speed up her learning process. If the summons could read it, they would have easily been able to figure out the language for themselves, but she’d later learned that it was shielded from non-human eyes. One of the books she’d been able to read that particularly struck her interest was a volume of the different encounters between summons and summoners. She went straight to the section about Shiva and saw a list of names two pages long. After each summoner was a short description of the strategies used by that particular magician and the actions of the summon. A list of how often they had called the summon during their lifetime was also noted.

            Shiva had been summoned often, but it was also written that she’d fought back fiercely. At least three people had been injured to near death while attempting to win her services.

            She looked through Ifrit’s section. Five pages of names and ten pages devoted to the challenges. For a village that was destroyed by fire, they certainly had an interest in summoning it.

            There were lists of many other summons, but Rydia only knew a few of them personally.

Between her normal studies, she’d read a few pages of the record book, trying to learn a bit more about the summons she was living with. She’d been studying hard over the months, purposely keeping herself as busy as possible to keep from getting distracted. It was difficult, but she did her best. Her dreams had come and gone over the months, but Cecil didn’t seem to be in any immediate peril and for a long while she was able to relax.

Suddenly while she was in the middle of memorizing more summoning commands, she felt her senses glaze over. She didn’t know what had come over her, but without warning, an image overtook her sight and she dropped the book she was holding to the floor. She saw airships and a distant tower floating on the clouds. She could feel the presence of the crystals there, almost cold. Then she was flying through corridors of tile and glass, with lights blinking on and off, confusing her. This wasn’t the earth she knew. The corridors wound back and forth and up several floors. She caught a glimpse of a bound figure in a cell and a glint of golden hair.

            “Rosa!” she cried out desperately, not sure if it was her, but wanting to call out something before she was whisked away. She was pulled from there to a kingdom buried in a sea of trees. The color of the land and the green of the trees overwhelmed her. It was beautiful and vast. She thought she felt the presence of an old friend there, a small tug at her conscience, but then the vision ended and she was back in her room, feeling like she’d been thrown into the back of her chair.

            She blinked, her breathing coming in quick gasps. The visions were coming to her while she was awake and this could become a problem. Were these really visions of things going on, or had they not happened yet? She’d heard about premonitions, but what she saw didn’t always coincide with what Asura showed her. Why had they come back again?

            She stood up from her chair and left her house. She needed fresh air.

            The arena seemed like a suitable place to walk to and that’s where Rydia’s feet took her.

            Lately she’d come here to practice with her weapons. Thinking of everything she’d done lately surprised her and filled her with a sense of accomplishment. She was finally able to use the whip she’d been given, and her work with daggers was improving as well. Everything she was doing was improving, and it had taken her a long time to finally see her own progress. She had to take a few minutes to think back on everything to realize all she’d done. She was learning quickly, getting stronger, and growing up. Shiva had already been forced to alter all of her clothing; some of the garments even had to be replaced entirely. Rydia had grown about a foot taller since she’d arrived and was becoming more slender for every inch she grew. Shiva had commented that human children were very much like weeds, you could never get them to stop growing, but Rydia hoped she’d stop growing eventually. She didn’t want to end up like Titan and tower over her companions when she rejoined them. She felt awkward enough with her green hair, which had, no thanks to Ifrit, been cropped a bit shorter, and fell just to her shoulders in wavy curls.

            She looked around the arena, remembering all the spells she’d been taught there already. The list was becoming rather long, and just like her height, had grown during the last several months. Shiva had her learning transformations and state altering magics, and she’d already accidentally turned Black into a frog. All of these things she’d done, yet she couldn’t control the visions she was seeing.

            She sat down at the edge of one of the tiers and cupped her chin in her hands. She didn’t even notice Black approach and sit down beside her.

            “What’s the matter with you?”

            She looked over at him with one brow raised. “I don’t understand them, Black. I can’t control them and I feel like they’re taking over.”

            “The dreams again?”

            She nodded.

            He stared off into the arena with her and sighed as well. “I don’t know, Rydia.”

“It’s as if I’m seeing things that haven’t happened yet, but when Asura shows me the same image, I get all turned around. Some things are the same while others are completely different. And now they’re coming to me when I’m awake.”

            Black looked at her seriously. “When you’re awake now too?” he cocked his ears in a curious fashion. “It seems like they’re getting stronger the older you get.”

            “But why?”

            “Maybe there’s something about dreams in the library?”

            “I’ve already looked, Black.”

            “You haven’t checked _everything_ yet. I can always look with you.”

            Rydia looked at him gratefully. “I’d appreciate it, Black. I’d like to learn something about why I’m seeing all of these things.”

            “I’ll look through more of the library to see if there’s something you missed, but why don’t you talk to Ramuh? He’s read nearly everything there is to read in that library.”

            Rydia suddenly brightened. Ramuh had to know something! She couldn’t believe she’d never thought to ask him in the first place.

            “I’ll go do that now,” she announced, standing up.

            “What about Shiva when she comes to ask what you’ve read?”

            “How about you tell me what I have to know when I come back.”

            “I don’t think I like this idea.”

            “Oh come on, Black.”

            “You do know that I can’t understand the texts written in the summoner’s language. There’s a reason why we haven’t freed ourselves from this spell on our own.”

            “That’s right,” Rydia said, remembering. “But I wasn’t reading anything in the summoner’s language. I was supposed to be looking at books about the discovery of ancient spells, but I got distracted.”

            “Which spells were you supposed to learn about?”

            “Quake, Flare, and Meteo.”

            “Fine. I’ll do it, but you owe me.”

            “Thank you, Black.”

            “Go talk to Ramuh. I’m not going to do all of your readings for you. You’ll need to be back in a few hours.”

            “I’ll be back by then,” she assured him and ran off in the direction of Ramuh’s house.

            It didn’t take her long to reach the lightning summon’s home with its decorative door. The façade of vines curved out toward her and she knocked, hoping Ramuh was at home.

            “Come in!” his muffled voice called out to her.

            She pulled on the handle and peered into the room. Ramuh’s walking stick rested beside the entrance and all sorts of dried herbs hung from his ceiling. She walked in cautiously, not seeing him amid the clutter.

            “Ramuh?”

            She heard papers shuffled and something falling and finally saw him in the corner of the room, trying to organize something.

            He looked up and his eyes lit up. “Rydia! It’s been quite a while since you’ve visited. What’s the occasion?”

            Rydia fidgeted with her hands as he slowly walked toward her, gesturing toward his table with chairs set around it.

            “Have a seat, and I’ll just tidy up a bit.”

            “I was hoping you could help me with something,” she said.

            “Oh? And what would you need helping with? I hear you’ve already become quite the summoner so it couldn’t be that.”

            Rydia blushed. “I’m fair at it. But that’s not what this is about.”

            When he finished clearing off a side of the table, he sat down in a chair of his own. “Go ahead, little one. Tell me.”

            “I’ve been having these dreams…and they come and go, but they’re becoming stronger. I can see my friends, and I can see things happening in all sorts of places, but I can’t make sense of them. Asura has shown me what’s been going on in the other realm, but what she’s shown me and the visions I’ve been having don’t always match up.”

            “You’ve got the sight.”

            “I’ve got the what?”

            “You see things before they happen.”

            “But I don’t think I’m seeing the future, I think I’m seeing what’s actually happening. What if I’m seeing things outside of the spell the way they’re actually occurring?”

            “But that would mean you’d be seeing them in slow motion.”

            “If I see them when I sleep, I wouldn’t really be able to tell the difference, though, would I? I only see fragments, just moments in time, but they’re becoming more clear to me. And I can see other people too, people I don’t know. Has there ever been anyone who’s been able to have dreams like this? To see people from a great distance and know what they’re doing?”

            Ramuh scratched his bearded chin.

            “It almost sounds like scrying. I’ve never heard of such a practice being done without the assistance of magic.”

            “Scrying?”

            “A way to observe the activities of others through magic. Commonly used by spies.”

            “So it does exist!”

            “Yes, but not without the aid of a medium—a magical device of some kind. If you’re doing this entirely on your own, you must be tapping into something allowing you to see these visions.”

            “This isn’t natural, is it?”

            Ramuh sighed, studying her closely. “It’s unusual. A human with such a close connection to magic.”

            “I’m the only one who’s ever been able to do this?”

            He stood up and walked a few steps away. “No, I don’t think so. I thought I heard something like it ages ago. People who were able to do extraordinary things with magic but weren’t transformed by it.”

            “You mean, people who didn’t become summons, but had some of the powers?”

            “Yes, that’s exactly it. They were wiped out centuries ago, I thought.”

            Rydia frowned. “You don’t think I’m one of _them,_ do you?”

            “It’s possible. It might explain why you’ve been able to see all this without any assistance. If the visions are becoming clearer, it could be that you are becoming more accustomed to controlling them as you get older.”

            “But why can’t I control who I’m seeing?”

            “As far as all visions are concerned, you see hints, clues; very rarely do you see whole scenes. It’s up to you to figure out how they’re all related or pan out in the end. Magic has a way of showing you things you don’t understand. What marks a good mage is the ability to see through the confusion and the unknown and see what really is.”

            Rydia thought about what Ramuh said for a moment. “Ramuh, how does Asura see the present as she does? All she does is cast a spell, she doesn’t use anything else to help her.”

            “Asura has many powers. As a summon she can do many things that defy the limits set on humans.”  

            “Can I do anything to stop the visions?”

            “I might make a guess that whenever something disturbs the magic of the crystals, the resulting wake is what triggers your visions. The crystals are practically entities of their own. When they feel they are in danger, they call out to those sensitive to their influence. It might not be coincidence that you found the companions you did in the upperworld. History is often shaped by particular individuals, all called to action in different ways. I’m sorry to tell you, Rydia, that as long as this conflict over the crystals continues, your visions won’t be going away.”

            Rydia sank into her chair, groaning. “Things just had to get more complicated,” she complained.

            Ramuh walked over to her and patted her on the head. “You’ll figure it out eventually. I’m sure of it.”

            Rydia sulked with arms crossed. “I hope so. Otherwise I’ll never be able to sleep again.”

            Ramuh chuckled. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to your lessons, little one?”

            That got Rydia’s attention. She jumped up from her chair and ran to the door. “Thank you, Ramuh. I think I understand this a bit more now.”

            “I’m glad, now go! You don’t want to get in trouble with Shiva!”

            Rydia ran out of the house and back to her own, knowing that Black would be doing her studying for her.

            She opened the door to find him flipping pages with a paw. He looked up when she entered.

            “That didn’t take too long,” he pointed out.

            “He couldn’t help me with much. He only remembered that there used to be a group of people who could do unusual things with magic similar to what I’ve been able to do several centuries ago.”

            “There you go. At least you know you’re not the only one.”

            “But they’re all dead, Black.”

            He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. “That does complicate things a little. Did he tell you if they could control the visions they saw?”

            “No. He couldn’t remember.”

            “I couldn’t find anything here either. There’s very little mention of anyone with innate magical powers.”

            Rydia slumped into a chair. “It seems that the moment I answer one question, another three pop up.”

            “I’m sorry, Ryd. I’ll keep looking.”

            She stared off into space before snapping her eyes on Black. “You spent all this time looking for that?”

            “Yes. I told you that I’d—oh.”

            “What about Shiva?”

            Black laid his ears flat against his head apologetically. “What spells did you need to know about?”

            Rydia searched through her books and found the one she was supposed to be studying. She opened to the necessary pages and started skimming. It was going to be a long evening if she didn’t pass Shiva’s daily test.

 

………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Another month passed. The dreams still came to Rydia at irregular intervals and Black insisted that she write down what each one was about. He started sleeping at her house while helping her search for clues as to why she was seeing the visions, but in that time, they still hadn’t found so much as a hint.

While she worked to figure out why she was seeing the visions, the lasting memory of them began to worry her more and more. Her last dream had been of Edward. He was badly injured and weak, and all around him angered magic seemed to surge. Something terrible had happened wherever he was, but she wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with his physical state, or the area around him. She wondered if Golbez had been responsible, but this had the feel of old magic and it confused her.

She recorded it in her notes and added it to the collection of other notes of her visions. They all seemed to be centered around the land with so many trees. Could it be Toroia?

Two more months passed and exhausted and frustrated, Rydia decided one afternoon to return to the arena to think. She felt like she was getting nowhere, and her worries about Cecil and the others had returned, always in the back of her mind. How she wished she was ready to help them!

            She stopped when she reached the arena’s perimeter and saw that she wasn’t alone. There were two summons in the arena and she watched what was going on below with interest. She recognized Fenrir in his wolf form sparring with another summon, a giant bird with enormous wings that for some reason reminded Rydia of a butterfly’s. She’d never seen the other summon before, but it was swift and dove around Fenrir while he tried to land a bite.

            She’d witnessed a few sparring matches between summons before, but never Fenrir, who she saw only in passing. His long legs carried him across the arena like lightning and he bound through the air at the other summon, catching its leg and pulling it out of mid-air.

            It was a short match and clearly Fenrir had won as he declared it with a triumphant howl. The two summons spoke to each other and then parted ways, Fenrir preparing to leave the arena near the stairs where Rydia was sitting.

            “That was fantastic!” she told him when he drew nearer.

            There was surprise on his face and in his golden eyes. “I didn’t know anyone was watching.”

            “Who was that other summon?” she asked, always curious when new faces were around.

            He looked behind his shoulder at the retreating bird. “I’m not allowed to say. Their name is protected and I am not allowed to disclose it.”

            “I see,” Rydia said, disappointed, but not entirely surprised. She didn’t know many of the summons for the exact same reason. “Does he or she have another name they go by?”

            Fenrir paused in thought. “Kez, I believe. And it’s a he.”

            “It seems this is the best place to come looking for you, summoner,” a voice interrupted them from behind, smooth as butter. Rydia turned to see Asura approaching. Fenrir bowed. “Your majesty.”

            “Good afternoon, Fenrir. If you don’t mind I’ll be having a word with the girl.”

            Fenrir nodded and bounded off, leaving the two of them alone.

            Rydia stood up and bowed to the queen.

            “Your majesty.”

            “Come with me. Something new finally seems to have developed in the overworld.”

            Rydia followed the queen eagerly back to the library. When they reached the basement, Asura began the spell and once again Rydia became immersed in Cecil’s world.

            She was standing on a stone pathway, elevated above a large moat. There were trees all around and Rydia gasped, recognizing this as the place she had seen so many times in her own dreams.

            “This way,” Asura said and guided her along the pathway to a wooden door. It was open and the two of them entered freely. Inside the chamber were several people. A woman in a long red coat and a man wearing a similar but less intricate coat, stood beside one wall. Rydia peered around a corner and saw a bed surrounded by familiar faces. Cecil was there, as well as Yang and Tellah, and the man with the goggles and bushy beard.

            She walked closer, trying to see who was lying in the bed. Her surprise was great when she saw Edward’s frail form beneath the sheets. He was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. She discovered that things were happening in normal speed and everyone was talking but Rydia couldn’t hear their words. She looked at the queen who observed the scene from a distance.

            “What are they saying?” Rydia asked, desperate to find out what was going on.

            “Your friend Cecil has just learned that the crystal of earth has been stolen by a dark elf. He must find it in order to save the life of a woman named Rosa, but he needs to find and defeat the dark elf first.”

            “What kingdom is this?”

            “This is the kingdom of Toroia, land blessed by the crystal of earth and filled with trees and other growing things.”

            “They have to defeat the dark elf,” Rydia repeated. That must have been the old magic she’d dreamt about, holding the crystal hostage.

            She watched Cecil and the others grip Edward’s hand one at a time, saying their good-byes. They stepped away from the bed and Edward lay in his bed with this eyes closed, the exertion of speaking to everyone having drained him. Rydia stepped closer, taking his hand in hers.

            _Get better soon, and be brave, Edward. Your music always gave me hope; let it do the same for you now._

His eyes suddenly fluttered open, and he gestured to Cecil to come closer. Edward reached under the bed and pulled out a small instrument, a harp, one that looked just like the instrument he always carried with him. Rydia didn’t know he carried two. He carefully plucked one of the strings and the sound resonated with great strength and clarity. Rydia thought she was imagining things, but she could actually hear it. He said something more to Cecil and then everyone departed, leaving Edward to rest.

“There’s nothing more. I just thought you might like to know that your other companion is indeed still alive. Leviathan kept his word.”

            The vision faded and Rydia was still amazed that the two visions, hers and Asura’s, had actually corresponded with each other.

            “Thank you,” Rydia told her gratefully. “It’s answered some questions of mine.”

            The queen nodded. “Your companions have a long journey ahead of them. The dark elf is an old being, consumed with self-preserving magics. Your friends will have to think of a way to break the spell if they stand a chance at retrieving the crystal.”

            “They’ll think of something, I’m sure of it,” Rydia replied.

            “They’d better, or this war will be short and our defeat swift.”

            “They will. I have faith in them.”

            Asura turned and left her, and Rydia hoped that Cecil would figure out the danger ahead. Maybe Edward knew something…after all, he couldn’t have given Cecil a harp for no reason at all.

            She hadn’t done much, she just hoped it was enough.

 


	23. Chapter 23

            Another seven months passed and life carried on as it always did in the Summoned Land. The queen’s vision of Edward and the others still filled Rydia with curiosity over how they were going to defeat the dark elf, but despite this, she felt strangely confident. Cecil hadn’t failed yet in his journey, and she didn’t see him failing now, not with so much at stake. Her only real worry in all this time had been Edward. He had been the focus of so many of her own dreams that she hoped he didn’t fall into any more trouble. He’d been a kindred spirit and a good friend, and he deserved a rest from all the hardship he’d already weathered. Rydia didn’t know for sure how he was holding together, as the queen’s subsequent visions were only of Cecil and he had been traveling since his visit with Edward. It seemed he was always traveling, and while Rydia knew that it seemed he was going dreadfully slow for such an important errand, little time had actually passed for her friends in the human realm. She tried to content herself with knowing as much as she already did. The queen would call her back when there was something important to learn as she always did.

            She now knew, at least, that everyone she’d left behind was still alive. They were all surviving and fighting back in their own ways. What she still didn’t understand was Golbez’s theft of the crystals. There was something more to his plans that she wasn’t seeing. It was always on her mind, peeking around the corners of her other thoughts.

It surprised her that in all her years in the Summoned Land, Cecil still hadn’t rescued Rosa. It was an unusual feeling to think that she could be up there right now, fighting all those enemies, and encountering so many plots along the way right by his side. It sounded like something out of the stories she’d read years ago. She hoped that Cecil would be able to reach Rosa safely even though in doing so, he’d be handing over the last crystal. She thought for days on end what he might do to find Rosa and still keep the last crystal. How cruel that he should have to pick between the two!

In the meantime, all she could do was wait patiently. A long time would still pass for events to pan out, but there was no other choice. The queen’s visions had nothing new to disclose and her own visions seemed to follow her progress like a shadow, and came only intermittently, often when she least expected them. One thing she’d come to determine ever since her visions of Edward and the confirmation of them by the queen, was that they weren’t completely without merit. She didn’t see events in a line as Asura did, she saw hers from many different points of view, all happening at the same time, at least that’s what she was determined to believe. She hadn’t been able to find a way to control them, but if she concentrated hard enough, she could almost see some of the things she wanted to. Most often they were mundane details, places, and people she didn’t recognize, but it was the little successes that gave her some hope. Perhaps there was a way to control this ability she had rather than it constantly controlling her. Still, she couldn’t quite understand Asura’s unnerving control of the spell and hadn’t dared to ask her exactly how she managed it. She kept an open eye for any opportunities to ask the queen, and to observe any techniques she herself could employ.

            Rydia thought the time to ask might be coming soon with Asura’s recent shift in attitude. She’d softened a bit during their encounters and didn’t seem too bothered by Rydia’s questions and observations. It was an encouraging sign, but as Rydia had been warned many times before—Asura was known for her many faces. Catch her on a bad day and the consequences could be regrettable.

            On this day she was sitting in her mother’s garden, staring out across the pond. It had become a way to relieve stress for her and to catch some peace of mind. The progress of her lessons and the nail biting path of Cecil’s journey were enough to require several days of quiet every now and again. She’d been ignoring her visions lately, they being of no use to her, and decided instead to get some fresh air and a change of pace.

            She’d been busy and had left the city to summon Shiva dozens of times, but beyond that, there wasn’t much else for her to do besides read and she was already growing tired of that. She knew she could summon Ifrit, but she was still wary of him and preferred to maintain as much distance as possible. Old wounds were slow to heal.

            She looked down into the glassy surface of the water and saw her green hair, grown long again, hanging loosely on either side of her face. She pushed it away with a slim white hand and cautiously studied herself in the water’s reflection, like an animal warily sizing up an opponent. She’d been so busy and distracted, that she didn’t have much time to pay attention to mirrors these days. In fact, her appearance startled her.

            She couldn’t believe how white her skin had become, not pale from illness or poor nutrition, but simply from lack of real sunlight. Her face had become more planes and angles rather than the rounded shape she was so used to. She felt like she was looking at a stranger and wanted to run away from what she saw.

            She’d been ignoring it for a while, but things were changing around her. The summons were acting more differently to her, even Asura, and her own attitudes and feelings were changing as well. She could hardly remember when it all had started, but she wondered if it had anything to do with the start of her unusual dreams and visions. Ever since then, the world had begun to seem like a much different place. She wondered if this was all a part of growing up and it frightened her.

            She’d been here for almost five years, and had learned so much already that already she questioned the things she knew before she’d even arrived. How much of what she’d been told were lies? Were her own people really as cruel as so many of the texts made them seem? For that matter, were they even her people, or was she some kind of mistake? She’d read through so many tomes of summoner history and their practices with the different summons that the more she read, the less she wanted to know. Some things almost made her feel sick and she felt ashamed at what some of her own kind had done over the centuries. As the months drew on, the question that bothered her most was who she really was. Was she really something special, someone with innate magical abilities, or was it just being here that caused her to see all she did?  

            Black had been helping her with her questions lately, but good information was hard to come by. The books and scrolls were very secretive and often referenced other works that Rydia hadn’t come to understand quite yet. She and Black looked through the different volumes tirelessly. He’d become a permanent resident in her house and kept her company during the late hours, skimming through books. He helped to distract her from the frustrating visions and she decided ultimately that this was a good thing. Until she could find a way to control them as Asura could, it was best to keep her attentions directed elsewhere.

            In the meantime, she needed a break from everything. It was another quiet day, and Shiva had decided to leave her alone after another successful venture into the caverns that morning.   

            A movement in green across the pond distracted her and she looked up to see Asura standing across from her, watching her at a distance.

            Rydia met the queen’s eyes and stood up, bowing out of habit. The queen walked toward her, her silk robes hanging from her human form like billowing curtains. Her dark hair flowed down her back and Rydia watched her nervously. The queen had never come to her here, and this was highly unexpected. The queen approached her at last and stood a few paces away, her eyes shrewd and expression neutral.

            She spied a rock nearby and sat gracefully down on it, extending one arm to Rydia in a gesture to do the same.

            “Please sit. I have come to speak with you about something.”

            Rydia seated herself on the soft grass and waited for the queen to say what she intended.

            Asura looked across the water and her expression seemed mournful for an instant. She looked back at Rydia with a hint of curiosity glistening in her keen eyes.

            “I’ve heard a lot about you in the time you’ve been with us,” she said slowly. How she spoke reminded Rydia poignantly of Shiva’s manner of formal speaking, how she’d spoken to Rydia on so many occasions all these years.

            “You’ve engaged in fights, run away, created quite a bit of controversy with your questioning of our way of life, our opinions of death, and even entertaining the idea of reviving the dead; you’re curious, impetuous, outspoken; and yet in the middle of all this, you’ve made many friends, impressed others, and despite your heretical ideas, have managed to have others go so far as to embrace you as one of their own. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that you’ve accomplished all this with nothing more than your green hair and sprightly personality, but I’ll admit it’s a bit unorthodox. Once again, however, you’ve caught my attention in the realm of all things unusual and it’s come to bother me lately.”

            Rydia sat and listened to the queen. She wasn’t sure at this point if it was a compliment or a reprimand, so she waited patiently for the rest.

            “I have shown you all I have because you insisted I show you. You said you’d dreamt of something terrible happening to your allies and wanted to be shown a confirmation of these fears. I have shared my ability to see the upper realm with you and you have somehow found a way to manipulate the visions to your own ends. I’ve watched you do this several times without intervening, because, in truth, I did not know it could be done. You are directly influencing the lives of those you see, and I am unable to explain why this has happened. You must be using secret magic to accomplish such a feat but all the times I’ve observed you, I have not been able to discover this secret. Tell me, what summoner’s secrets are you using to do this?”

            Rydia raised her brows, stunned. The queen thought she was performing some form of magic, trickery, to influence her friends in the visions?

            “Your majesty, I’m not doing anything!”

            “I do not believe you. Not even I am capable of such actions, otherwise, I myself would share my insight with these travelers.”

            “If I may, your majesty, how are you able to see these visions so clearly? Is there a magic to them as well? A spell I might be able to learn so that I don’t have to bother you so regularly?”

            “I will tell you no such thing. You still have not answered my own question.”

            “I’ve told you, your majesty. I don’t do anything magical in the visions, I just reach out to my friends and they seem to hear me.”

            “Tell me about these dreams of yours.”

            Rydia started. She’d wanted to keep them a secret until she could get a better handle on them. Had Black given her away? “My dreams?”

            “Yes. The dreams you had that prompted you to come to me in the middle of the night. If you’re not consciously affecting my visions, something else is, and dreams can sometimes take on lives of their own. Do they persist?”

            Rydia felt her face grow warm. She didn’t want to admit they’d been ongoing.  At first she thought they were just to warn her of significant dangers, but then she realized that they came and went for all sorts of reasons. She nodded.

            “They started a while ago. I thought they were just dreams, things I was making up about my friends--what they might be up to--but when they became more specific I was afraid. I didn’t know what they meant, or if what I was seeing was really happening.  I’ve been seeing all sorts of things since they started. Sometimes there’s danger, other times there are just details and small hints. I don’t know why they’re not going away.”

            The queen’s expression was wary.

            “How long have you seen these dreams?”

            “I can’t remember exactly. Maybe two years?”

            “Now tell me, how often have your dreams coincided with what I’ve shown you?”

            “Several times already, but mine are of many different people and places, not just Cecil. Please, your majesty, is there a way to control them or get rid of them?”

            “It can’t possibly be,” the queen murmered, staring at Rydia like she was seeing a ghost.

            Rydia frowned. “What can’t possibly be? There must be many people in the upperworld who see dreams that may or may not come true like mine. Maybe it’s just the spell that makes me see these things.”

            Asura looked at her quizzically now. “What was your last vision—do you remember it?”

            “My last vision was of an airship flying over a forest so large you couldn’t see where it ended or began. I think it was still Toroia.”

            Asura closed her eyes and her face became calm and still, as if she was reveling in a cool breeze on her face, or the feel of sun on her skin. When she opened her eyes again, she looked directly at Rydia.

            “Your friends are flying over Toroia as you yourself saw. They are looking for a way to reach the cave of the Dark Elf.”

            “What I’m seeing is actually happening?”

            “You say you can’t control what you see?”

            Rydia shook her head. “It comes and goes. Please tell me if there’s a spell to control it!”

            “I thought there was something unusual about you from the day you arrived here,” the queen murmured to herself.

            “What do you mean?”

            “Your very being, you’re not a normal child. No mage would have been able to perform magic the way you did when you first arrived here. You followed no set rules, no proper order of words. You instinctively felt your way through the spells you cast, and while not very effective or powerful, still with some degree of success. How blind I was! Understand something, child, magic must be learned for most beings. It’s a power gained from understanding the nature of the crystals. Very rarely is it innate.”

            Ramuh’s words suddenly flew through Rydia’s mind. “Innate? You think I have innate magical abilities?”

            “I should have seen it sooner, in the commands of your spells, in the green of your hair. You _feel_ magic.”

            “But how could that be? I just have green hair, that doesn’t make me too special.”

            “You see the dreams, and you see them unasked. It takes lifetimes for many mages to even begin to see any such thing. They devote years of study to ascertaining visions and incorporating them into their breadth of knowledge. For you, a girl of barely twelve, to see these without warning, without direction, yet still accurately, is unsusual.”

            “But I never saw them before I came here!” Rydia objected.

            “Perhaps. Perhaps not. Unassisted, perhaps all you saw were the vaguest of details. Here in this spell, who knows how you’ve been able to channel this ability. Magic reacts to its own kind. I’ve felt it tug at you and often wondered at it. No wonder you’ve been able to influence your companions, the raw untamed nature of your ability probably reaches them once you know where to direct it.”

            “How do you know all this? Did you master the ability to see all this when you became a summon?”

            Asura stared at her, then back at the water of the pond. “I mastered it long before I became a summon.”

            “How did you control it, then?”

  1.             Asura remained quiet for a long while. “Much practice and concentration. It was my gift—my curse.”      



            “I don’t understand, did you receive any training for it? I thought you said it took lifetimes for mages to learn the art of it.”

            Asura smiled faintly. “I was always adept at the white magics, the healing arts, but my ability to use the seeing spell was always strong, unusual. I learned to manipulate it in ways that no one else had ever dared. Be careful in your pursuit of controlling your visions. Don’t let them consume you or they might become an obsession that rules your life. I don’t know if it will stay with you when you leave here, but should it ever make itself known to you again, take caution. Like the ability to see into the future, seeing too much can destroy you.”

            “How do you know this?”

            Asura looked her in the eyes again, standing up from her rock. “I was very much like you once.” And with that she turned and left Rydia to sit and wonder what she meant.


	24. Chapter 24

            For two months Rydia pondered the queen’s words. She hadn’t been called to see any visions in a while, but she’d had a few more of her own. They didn’t confirm much of anything, just continued the path of Cecil’s journey, and once again, with so little having happened, her impatience skyrocketed.

            “I think I’m going mad!” she cried to Black one afternoon, pacing across her room.

            He looked up from another high pile of books with indifferent eyes. “What now…” he asked idly.

            Rydia, realizing he didn’t care, but needing someone to complain to, started explaining anyway. “I’ve been having these dreams for over a year, Black. They were useful for a while, when there were actually things _going on_ , but now that there’s nothing happening, nothing immediately anyway, they just keep coming. All I see every time I go to bed are trees; trees, trees, trees. No important missions, no dangers, no battles, they _still_ haven’t found Rosa, and while they’re trying to find the last crystal, _years_ are going by for me! I can’t take this anymore! I just wish they only came to me when I wanted them to! Only when something important was about to happen, or something I could at least be useful for! I could warn them or encourage them—something! To be sitting around waiting for something new is driving me mad. Maybe the queen was right, maybe these dreams are taking over my life.”

            Suddenly Black seemed to take an interest. “The queen? When did she tell you that?”

            Rydia shrugged. “Two months ago? She came to me in my mother’s garden, one of the days I needed a break from studying.”

            “She talked to you about the visions—I mean, she actually asked you about yours? How did she find out?”

            “She just knew!” Rydia said, exasperated. “She wanted to know if I still saw them, and if I still felt danger. I had to tell her the truth.”

            “What did she say about them?”

            “She listened to me explain what I saw, and was surprised. She said I wasn’t normal, that I was using magic in an unusual way, and that my visions were affecting the spell she was using to allow me to see what’s been going on in the upperworld. She seems to think that I have innate abilities that have been reacting to the magic here, that’s why they’ve been so powerful and uncontrollable.”

            “She thinks you actually have innate abilities? Didn’t Ramuh think that too? But I thought he said the people who had them were all gone, unless somehow you just happened to have a drop of them in your bloodline,” Black bantered on.

            “I don’t know! I wish I did! Black, I have no idea who I really am anymore. I thought it would all be over once I knew Cecil was safe, but it’s never ended. I can’t live my life constantly worried about what’s going to happen.”

            “I tried to tell you that already, but you said you just had to know! Should have been more careful with what you wished for, because now you’re stuck seeing what’s going on and being unable to make sense of it.”

            Rydia sighed and rested her hands behind her head. “I would have seen the visions anyway. I was able to figure out what they meant by going to Asura in the first place, so it’s not that I never would have understood them. I just…don’t want to know anymore. Now that I know they’re all alive, I think I’m content with that. It’s the constant fear of not knowing what I’m going to dream up next and having to wait for an explanation from Asura weeks later that bothers me most.”

            “That would be frustrating.”

            “I wish I could just make them stop!”

            “Why don’t you try talking to Ramuh again? Maybe he knows something he just forgot?”

            “What if she’s right? What if I do have the abilities she thinks I have?”

            Black looked up at her. “Then I’d say your mother neglected to tell you something, that’s what.”

            She looked at him startled, beseeching. “Black, do you know something? Anything at all about my father? Did my mother ever even mention him to you?”

            He looked away from her and back at his books. “She didn’t say anything to me. I’m just saying that Ramuh might have been wrong. And if he’s wrong, then maybe you received your ability through your father, whoever he was.”

            Rydia sat down heavily in a chair and glared at him. “You’re not much help, you know that? You’ve been living here for months reading all these books. You haven’t found anything in those and you can’t give me anything useful other than to talk to someone else.”

            “Don’t get sassy with me,” he warned. “I’ll have you know that the summoners just didn’t seem to like these people Ramuh was talking about. If they did, you’d think they’d mention them somewhere, but nope. And the ability to see prophetic dreams, or near enough, isn’t given to so many people, you know. What if other people with innate magical abilities were able to pull fire or water out of the dirt or…I don’t know, control storms? Who knows? They’re so similar to real learned spells that trying to find those small differences is practically impossible! I’m only one cat, Rydia, and look at how many books there are!”

            Rydia bit her lip. “I’m sorry, Black. I didn’t mean to get angry with you, it’s just—I always wondered if I was so different from other people, with my green hair and all. When I traveled with Cecil I felt so normal, so much a part of things, and now that the queen and maybe even Ramuh believe I may have powers that are stronger than others, it makes me wonder who and what I really am.”

            “You’re Rydia. Others might make a fuss about innate abilities, but you’ll still be Rydia to me. If you absolutely have to know, go talk to Ramuh again.”

            Rydia started to chew on her lip in earnest. “I can’t.”

            “You can’t? You just explained how you want to know who you really are and then refuse to go ask for a confirmation?”

            She frowned, “I think I don’t really want to know the answer.”

            “Rydia, even if you’re not one of those people and this ability you possess is a fluke, he might have an interesting history lesson for you that isn’t confined to one of these books. Trust me.”

            “You think he knows something about what happened?”

            “He’s old enough, he might know the history of those people he spoke of. Before they were destroyed, that is. Might have something to do with the Magician’s War I saw mention of a while back.”

            He got up to leave the room, but Rydia stopped him. “The Magician’s War? You mean there have been other wars before this one?”

            He looked at her in surprise. “Are you joking? You’ve read all those books and not a single—” he broke off and despairingly shook his head. “I think we haven’t told you some very important things.”

            “Yes, I’m being serious, and wars over what? The crystals?”

            “There have been wars almost as long as there have been humans, Rydia. They always concern different ideals, different opinions; desires for land, riches, power. It’s the way kingdoms rise and fall. The war being fought now just happens to be of global significance. If we lose this war, the entire world could be in jeopardy.”

            “How on earth did I miss those books?”

            “The summoners only write about matters directly concerning themselves. They care little for wars they don’t participate in.”

            “They kept to themselves,” Rydia said, starting to understand. “But why did they go to such lengths to keep everyone out? What were they so afraid of?”

            Black looked at her seriously. “Someone stealing their secrets. After all, if anyone could call on our powers, kingdoms would be pitted against each other with all sorts of magical advantages at their disposal. The summoners didn’t want that. They wanted the power for themselves.”

            “You make my village out to be so selfish and cruel.”

            “No one is fully good, Rydia. There’s darkness everywhere, even among the summoners.”

            “You don’t think my mother—”

            “Your mother was different. She wanted to make changes, influence the people around her. She never fully completed her task, but you’ve already started to pick up where she left off. I don’t know all the details about the Magician’s War, so if you want to know anything else, you’d better ask Ramuh. He’s the only one that I know of, who might be able to tell you something more, and maybe shed some light on that other question of yours.”

            “I suppose I’ll go,” she conceded. “If I do have an innate ability, I want to know where I got it from.”

            “Go, then,” Black prodded, relieved.

            Rydia left her house and walked to Ramuh’s. It had been a while since she’d visited, and she hoped that he was in.

 

She knocked twice, but when no one answered, she tried the handle. It was unlocked. She gently budged it open and peered into the room, only to find Ramuh sitting next to a table with a large piece of vellum laying across it. She opened the door wider and stepped through, approaching him slowly. He was used to her coming in unasked, so her entry wasn’t entirely out of place, but he seemed so absorbed in his task that she wondered if he would notice her at all even if she was shouting. She stood several feet away and looked quietly at the vellum in front of him. On it was etched a map, and peering over his shoulder, she could see the intricate lines and symbols on it. It was beautiful and the illustrations seemed to shimmer and move. She stared at it in disbelief. She’d come across many magical items in her time among the summons, but she never once got used to them, each so very different. She forced herself to look from the map to Ramuh, whose back was turned toward her. She didn’t know why she hadn’t introduced herself yet, so she finally cleared her throat.

            “Good morning, Ramuh.”

            He grunted an acknowledgement without looking up. Rydia walked closer and stood beside him, getting a closer look at the map on the table.

            “What is this?”

            He finally looked up, as if noticing her for the first time. “Rydia! Good to see you!”

            She smiled and pointed at the map again. “What were you looking at, Ramuh?”

            “Oh this! Yes, this,” he said, lifting it on one side and rolling it up. He slipped it into a long cylindrical sheath and wandered into the back of the room.

            “Are you alright?”

            “I’m fine!” he answered cheerfully, though distracted. “What have you come to see me about? Not more trouble with those dreams, I hope.”

            “No,” Rydia answered, looking innocently off into a corner. “And yes.”

            “Yes? Sit then, let’s have it.”

            Rydia cleared a stool of its papers and sat down, not looking directly at Ramuh, but knowing he watched her with his intense dark eyes, waiting for an explanation.

            “You told me all those months ago, that there were people who had innate magical abilities, but that they were destroyed. Is it possible that some of them survived? Is it possible that I could be…one of them?”

            He scratched his bearded chin. “It might be possible, but not entirely likely. It would be a one in a thousand, thousand chances. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you’re one of _them_ , but it might be that the magic the summoners have been using for all these years has finally done something to their children.”

            “But why me? Why just me?”

            “Do you know for sure it’s just you?”

            Rydia wrinkled her nose. “Well…no.”

            “There you have it. Might be you’re the only one who noticed that you had special abilities, anything different from the rest.”

            “I was the only child in my village born with green hair.”

            “Really? I thought it was just the fashion these days.”

            Rydia gave him a look, but smiled in spite of herself. “No one ever really made a big deal out of it; my mother never said a word. She just said it suited me for my earthy personality. I was always playing in the garden and the forest. She said I was at home with nature and that love had turned my hair green. No one questioned her. No one else made anything of it, but I did. I always knew there was something odd about me. Somehow I always knew when something was about to happen, little things mostly. I just _knew_.”

            “I don’t know, Rydia. I’m fairly certain there’s nothing left of them.”

            “Do you know for sure? Maybe one or two survived?”

            “I was there, Rydia. I was there when they died.”

            She sat back a little and stared at him. “What do you mean? Was it the Magician’s War? Was that when it happened?”

            “Who told you about the Magician’s War?”

            She shrugged. “It was mentioned in one of the books from the library.”

            Ramuh tugged at his beard, looking off into some distant place that only he could see. “The Magician’s War was a ridiculous affair. The summoners and their jealousy…”

            That was twice today that her people had been accused of being selfish, and Rydia wondered at it. “What happened in the Magician’s War?” she asked, hoping that Ramuh would remember something.

            “It’s a grisly tale, Rydia. Hardly suitable for your ears.”

            “I’ve seen some terrible things, I hardly see how this would bother me any more than that.”

“Very well, but you’re not going to like this one,” he explained, and then cleared his throat, obviously trying to put together the memories as he went along. “A long time ago, when summons still roamed the earth freely and summoners were still children practicing magic, there was another group of humans, the Adrin, that could manipulate magic with ease. As I said before, they were able to do extraordinary things with magic without the aid of complex incantations like other practitioners at the time. They had their own tribe and lived in close harmony with the earth, feeling the ebb and flow of the crystals’ power. Long after the summoners had perfected their crafts, they found out about the Adrin and feared them. You see, the summoners had spent years devising ways to harness the magic of the crystals with words and gestures, but they had never fully found a way to bind with it as the Adrin had. That the Adrin could wield magic that couldn’t be learnt, was unorthodox, a taboo among the summoners. Understand, the Adrin were humans influenced by the power of the crystals, but not fully transformed--a step between the humans and the summons. They came from many lands, many tribes. It was never certain where a person born with these abilities would come from, but many of them found others like themselves and formed the Adrin. The summoners were at that time the most well known magic users in the world, and refused to be out-matched. Many centuries of bitterness and contempt led them to take action against these people, and they used us to do their bidding. They summoned several of us to carry out their work, to wipe the Adrin from the pages of history, and we did. Because the summoners wanted to be known as the most powerful magicians in the world, they made us kill innocent people. I want to think that some of the Adrin survived, but I just don’t think it happened. If any of them did, they would do best to keep to themselves entirely and stay hidden.”

            Rydia listened to Ramuh’s story intently. She was amazed by how little she really knew about her own people, their own weaknesses and jealousies. “The summoners really had all those people killed, just because they thought it wasn’t fair that they didn’t have to learn magic like everyone else?”

            “That’s right.”

            “They made you _kill_ so they could be the best?”

            “I told you you wouldn’t like this story.”

            “But the summoners are gone. There’s no threat to the Adrin anymore. If there are any left, they could come out of hiding, couldn’t they?”

            “They could if they wanted to, but there’s still a danger to them. Not from the summoners, but from anyone else in the world who would covet their powers.”

            “Ramuh,” Rydia interrupted, “Asura came to me a few months ago. She said that the way my dreams have developed, sounds very much like an ability that would have been had by one of the Adrin. Would she be wrong about something like that?”

            “The queen thinks you’ve got one of the Adrin abilities. I just don’t know, Rydia.  I’ve tried to forget for so long, that it’s become quite fuzzy to me. When you asked me all those months ago, I almost couldn’t remember at all. Maybe a small amount of them escaped the attack, maybe a few of them went into hiding and survived all these years, but for you, a child of the summoners to have somehow crossed paths with their kind…the summoners would never allow such a thing. To them it would be like having a child with horns and hooves.”

            “But what if they didn’t know? I wasn’t able to do anything special when I was in the village, it was just little things that I noticed. Maybe my father was one of them and no one knew about it.”

            “Rydia, I’ll be honest with you. You’re nothing if not unusual, but this would be a little more unusual than normal.”

            “Maybe Asura’s right. Maybe I do have this ability, even if it’s not very strong. My father might have been descended from the Adrin, couldn’t he? Maybe?”

            “Come to think of it, Arya never mentioned anything about her husband,” Ramuh mused. “It might be possible.”

            Rydia felt a strange mixture of hope and discouragement almost simultaneously. “She never mentioned him or me? Not even once?”

            “It could only mean she wanted to keep it secret. I’m sure she had her reasons.”

            “Maybe he’s still alive!” Rydia went on, becoming elated with the idea that she might have a father still in the world somewhere.

            “Now, don’t go running off to any more hasty conclusions. Remember what happened with all that talk of Mist. There are a lot of ‘mights’ and ‘if’s’.”

            “But what if—?”

            “I just don’t want to see you disappointed or hurt.”

            “I’ll be alright, Ramuh. I just want to know who I am and why I have this ability in the first place. Because if it is innate, then I’m really not going crazy, and that’s a good thing.”

            Ramuh stared at her thoughtfully. “Yes, that would be a good thing. Good luck, Rydia, but remember: you may not find the answer here. It could take years—a whole lifetime to find the answer to that question.”

                “Ramuh,” she said, abruptly changing the subject. “What is it you were looking at just now?”

            He furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

            “You had a map in front of you.”

            He rubbed his temples, trying to remember. “Must have been the map of old Toroia.”

            “Old Toroia? There’s a new Toroia now? Was it so much different?”

            Ramuh chuckled. “I should think. It was a map I acquired long ago. I wanted to remember the land the way it used to be, the way I knew it best, but only a few maps had ever been made during the time I was still human. The one I wanted was made by a legendary mapmaker, but he’d been dead for centuries.”

            “How did you get it? Why is it so important?”

            “A young man wanted to summon me, but I sent him on a quest first. In order to gain the use of my name, I made him search out one of the last remaining maps made by this mapmaker. They’re magical, you see. The trees appear to move, and the seasons change. It’s like watching a small world from far above. It’s always kept me close to my forest in a small way, but not exactly the real thing. I hadn’t brought it out in a long time.”

            “That’s why you’d forgotten what your trees looked like. You hadn’t looked at anything that reminded you of them in a long time,” Rydia observed.

            “I guess that’s it. After a time, I couldn’t bear to know that life had gone on without me. I’d given up all hope of ever seeing it again until you brought new life into this place. You gave me hope that I might someday be free of this spell.”

            Rydia looked at the blank tabletop. His story sounded so woefully similar to her own at present, or what she imagined might happen to her if she never left here. “I’m sorry, Ramuh, for what my people did to you.”

            He nodded. “It wasn’t your fault, child. That was ages ago.”

            “Even so, as the last of them I feel it is my responsibility to make amends.”

            “What’s done is done. We can only move forward from here.”

            “Thank you for your help today,” she added, sliding off the stool and standing before him.

            “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more assistance, but you know me and my memory. It comes and goes.”

            “You helped me enough, Ramuh. Thank you.”

            “You know…a thought for you if you’re going to continue pursuing this—Black knew your mother even better than I did. Perhaps he knows something? He accompanied her on several journeys, if I recall. There’s bound to be something buried in that cat’s furry head.”

            Rydia made a skeptical expression. _Black_ , she wondered. Was it possible? Surely he would have told her something this important by now, wouldn’t he? She decided it was worth looking into, and bade good-bye to Ramuh with another idea in mind.

 

 

 

…………………………………………………………………………………….

 

            Rydia walked quickly back to her own house, and stepped inside expecting to see Black sitting within his pile of books. He wasn’t. She tried not to let her disappointment cloud over her intent, and she stood in the doorway, thinking of where else he might be. An idea came to her, and she left once again, this time heading for her mother’s garden.

            The wall in front of it shimmered and rippled like agitated water when she passed through, emerging on the other side to the sight of illusionary sunlight and greenery of which she never tired. She walked closer to the pond and looked around, trying to find a hint of the cat’s whereabouts. Across the water behind a very large rock, she noticed a long spotted tail. He must have thought he was well concealed, but Rydia found the sight hilarious. She walked around the pond and approached him from behind.

            “Black?”

            He jumped straight up, all four legs straight as rods, and landed on the rock beside him. The look in his eyes was wild.

            “ _What?_ ” he hissed.     

            Rydia rocked back on her heels, finding his reaction completely unexpected. “I just wanted to find you, not terrify you! If you were trying to hide, you should know that your tail was sticking out for the whole world to see!”

            He made a haughty sniff. “I wasn’t hiding. I just wanted some time to myself.”

            “Why did you jump so high?”

            His eyes flashed back and forth, like a real cat baffled by a small insect flying in front of their face. “I was concentrating on something, and you had to go ruin it.”

            Rydia offered a wry expression. “Concentrating on what, and hey, are you feeling alright? You look…tired.”

            “I’m fine. How did your talk with Ramuh go?”

            “I found out who those people were.”

            “Really?”

            “Yes, the Adrin. He said the summoners had them destroyed because they were a threat.”

            “Did he say if it was possible for you to be one of them?”

            “Not exactly. But I wanted to ask you something, Black.”

            She noticed a small flicker of worry in his eyes.

            “What is that?” he asked delicately.

            “You said you knew my mother well. You journeyed with her from that village in the mountains to Mist, right?”

            “Yes?”

            “Was there anything special about the people in the mountains? The ones who were very superstitious?”

            She watched him carefully, taking note of the quick flick of his tail, the set of his whiskers. He seemed uncomfortable.

            “They were an odd bunch. They were a small village that dealt with herbs and magical items.”

            “Magical items?”

            “Didn’t you ever wonder who made potions and ethers? Those items that help keep you alive when your own magic can’t help you? In a sense, they _bottled_ magic, that’s what they did. Your mother was just out on an errand to bring back some of this medicine.”

            “Did you ever get near to that village? Did you ever talk with anyone?”

            “Well, there was _one_ person, but he was kind of an accident. He caught me in the forest talking to myself and the rumors started from there. Brooms and pitchforks, and all sorts of tools. I didn’t like them much.”

            “What did he look like?”

            Black was becoming irritated. “What does it matter? Why are you asking me this?”

            “Because no one in Mist knew my father or knew who he was. If he wasn’t from Mist, then he had to be from somewhere. Maybe he was from that village?”

            Now Black’s expression went blank. “I can’t!” he cried and tried to trot away. Rydia caught up with him.

            “You can’t? Not ‘you don’t know’, but you _can’t_? Black, do you know who my father is?”

            “Rydia, listen to me. Your mother made me promise not to say a word; in fact, it was one of her conditions for bringing me back to Mist. I couldn’t say anything.”

            “Black, what does it matter now? Who did she not want you to tell?”

            “Anyone! I can’t break that promise, not even to you.”

            “Why not even to me?”

            “Because! I just—”

            “Black, you can tell me. What harm will it do? I’m sure she would have told me herself someday, so why can’t you?”

            He stopped moving and faced her determinedly. “Do you remember the story I told you about your mother going to that village to ask for herbs? She went there to see someone else as well. His name was Rowan.”

            “Rowan? But last time, you said his name like you didn’t even know who he was!”

            “Oh, I knew who he was. He was the one who caught me in the forest talking to myself, who revealed me to the entire village. Because of _him_ I had to leave again. It was just my bad luck that he was exactly the same person your mother wanted to see.”

            “You think he was my father?”

            “Rydia, I _know_ he was your father. Turns out, he’d been courting your mother for quite some time, ever since she was a young woman. She’d travel to their village to ask for herbs and other supplies, and he would try to win her over. I suppose somewhere along the way, they were married, but the summoners don’t approve of marriages outside of their village, so she didn’t say anything. I don’t know anything about him having innate magical abilities, but he was definitely unusual. He could make plants grow like nothing I had ever seen before, plants he used to make powerful tonics.”

            “My father’s name was Rowan,” Rydia repeated to herself. “I have a father.”

            “Now you know. I’ve broken my promise, may Arya forgive me.”

            “Thank you, Black!” she called out, breaking into a full run. She had to tell Ramuh what she’d just learned.

            She burst into his house like a green haired tornado. His reaction to her intrusion nearly made her want to double over with laughter. He looked thoroughly unimpressed, as if this was normal, and the image of the whole scene in Rydia’s mind made her smile broadly.

            “Ramuh! I have a father!”

            “Yes, yes, well I knew you had one, I just didn’t know who he was.”

            “He could garden, Ramuh!” Realizing how absurdly plain that sounded, she went on. “He could use magic to help his plants grow! That’s got to be something, doesn’t it?”

            He laughed softly. “It might be. Black knew something after all, did he?”

            “He said no one was supposed to know.”

            Ramuh’s laughter increased. “Your mother. What a woman.” He shook his head. “My dear, young Rydia, I think your life just took another turn. You know who your father was, but what will you do with this knowledge?”

            She had a dozen things she wanted to say but her words all jumbled up into a colossal mess on her tongue. “I—I don’t know. I suppose all I’ve learned is that I have magic in my blood. Asura was right!”

            “You’re assuming this based on plant growth?”

            Rydia clasped her hands behind her back. “Yes?”

            “Couldn’t he just be using very fertile soil?”

            She glared at him. “Black told me that they were unnaturally large and potent. He said my father lived in a village where they made potions and ethers and all sorts of magical drinks. Could he have made potions from just any plants? Wouldn’t they have to be magical in some way?”

            Ramuh “humphed” and tugged at his beard. “You raise an interesting point.”

            “So my father was connected to nature. He could help things to grow. That could be an innate magic, couldn’t it?”

            “Yes, it could. You’re determined to believe this, aren’t you?”

            “It would explain a lot,” she replied. “Or give me something to believe other than me being a magical fluke.”

            “Rydia, if you could, would you protect the Adrin? If your father truly is one of them and some of the rest of them are still alive?”

            “Of course I would! I’m a part of them too, after all. At least…I think I am.”

            “For your sake I will believe you are as well. I’ve carried this burden a long time, believing I’d murdered so many. To hear that there may be some of them still alive in the world is encouraging, and here in front of me is a child who bridges the gap between two unlikely groups of people! Two people who have argued with each other over the intricacies of magic for ages!”

            Rydia hugged her chest. “Maybe my mother wanted to make a truce. Maybe she wanted the summoners and the Adrin allies instead of enemies!”

            “It could be. Whatever her reasons, you were born a gifted magician. Your dreams are just a faint manifestation, I think. Your other abilities are what set you apart as one naturally adept at magic.”

            “Asura mentioned that too. I don’t understand, though. I thought each Adrin had only one specialty?”

            Ramuh shook his head. “It’s true that their talents tended to emphasize certain abilities, but where it came to the control of other spells, they were able to use them in much different ways. Much the same way you were able to cast your first level spells without much formal instruction. The summoners feared them because they believed delving into that raw magical energy without some rules or instruction was dangerous.”

            “Does this mean my spells will be more powerful than most others?”

            “It wouldn’t surprise me. But be careful and use that power wisely.”

            “I will, and when I grow up, I’m going to go looking for that village. I’ll form an alliance and they won’t have to be in hiding anymore!”

            “In that case,” Ramuh said seriously, “I lend you the use of my name. I was the one who helped destroy them, I want to be the one who helps restore them.”

            Rydia stared at Ramuh in shock. “Ramuh? You’ll let me summon you?”

            His dark eyes sparkled. “I have always challenged my summoners. Mostly with errands that would test their commitment and their wits. You, however, have set your own challenge, and I believe a truly worthy one of being called into service. I wish you luck with your endeavor, and I hope that you finally do discover the answers you’ve been kept from.”

            “Thank you, Ramuh. I’m honored.”

            He chuckled. “Go on, then. Go ask more questions. I know you’re just dying to find out anything more about this.”

            “Thank you, Ramuh! Good bye!” she called, turning and running from his house. So many new things to think about! So much for her to work with!

            _I’m not crazy!_ She thought, elated. _I might finally know where I came from—what I’m capable of!_ Excitement flooding her, she raced back to her own home. She had a name, now all she had to do was search for it. Armed with this new knowledge of the Adrin, she hoped she could learn something about how they mastered their own magical abilities. She could control her own visions!

            Thus did her search begin…     


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rydia's approximate age is 12

She looked for weeks, scouring the pages of the library’s books for clues about the Adrin, for anything about how they learned to control the abilities they had. There had to be something…

            Still, as Black had said, there were so many books and just the two of them. They found very little of anything.

            Two months had passed and the initial buzz of excitement had begun to die down to a simmering determination, or frustration, Rydia couldn’t be sure which. The queen still hadn’t come to speak with her again, and that being the case, Rydia didn’t have much of an opportunity to ask questions about innate abilities and what the queen knew of them. She’d said they were alike, and that statement still baffled Rydia. How were her visions and the queen’s spell anywhere near each other? The queen was simply the better master of magic. They were only similar in their pronounced use of it.

            Rydia shut the last book for the day and threw herself back into her chair. She was exhausted. She’d been looking through so many volumes for more information aside from what she was already supposed to know for her regular lessons, that her head felt foggy with too much to process. She’d shooed Black out hours ago, complaining that he was giving her a headache with his nagging about her working on something else for a while. In fact, she’d been shooing him out for several days now. He remarked that she was becoming more snappish every day, but she refused to believe him. She was just tired, that was all. Granted, she was sore as well. Her arms and legs cramped now and again, and she knew she was still growing. It hurt to grow…

            Shiva had altered yet another bunch of her garments, and Rydia didn’t realize until then just how tall she’d gotten. When she first met Shiva, she’d only reached the ice summon’s elbow, but now she was a little above her shoulder, still almost a full head shorter, but getting there.

            She didn’t want to think about growing up too much. For some reason, the idea terrified her. What was it like to be an adult? Was she going to change so much that she wouldn’t even know herself anymore? She couldn’t really account for her moodiness lately either. She just snapped at whoever was closest, and it only increased her aggravation. First she couldn’t control the visions, and now she couldn’t control her own moods.

            Rydia sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes. Was there never going to be an end to this? This game of cat and mouse with her always looking for answers she never found?

            She walked over to her bed and pulled back the covers. There was always tomorrow, she told herself.

            The following morning greeted her with a sharp pain in her hip. She sat up only to lay back down again. Was she ever going to stop growing too? Maybe she’d become some fearsome giant, she imagined, then forced the thought out of her head. A green haired giant, now that would be something…

            She rubbed her hip vigorously, trying to make the throbbing go away. She was supposed to go on her morning run with Black, but she didn’t see that happening today. When her door slowly opened as if on cue, she knew without having to look who it would be.

            “Out!” she commanded, not in the mood to deal with Black’s comments and conjectures at all.

            She glimpsed an angry tail flick before the door was pulled shut again and closed her eyes in relief. If he wasn’t there to guilt her, she could rest in peace.

            She just wasn’t in the mood, or the physical condition. She’d rather just stay in bed. She’d rather read.

            Realizing that she’d have to walk across the room to acquire a book, she groaned. She pulled herself out of bed reluctantly and trudged, or limped rather, to the table where the book she had intended to read that day was laying. It was a book in the summoner’s language and she’d been meaning to read it for a while. It was a book of history, a journal in fact. It was large and heavy and she hoisted it up and carried it back to her bed. Leaning against the wall, she cracked it open, the smell of dust and old paper greeting her nose. The script was elegant and beautiful, and she began to read, wondering what this person had to say.

 

            _Herein lies the account of Ganrik Hadrifeld, high summoner of Myst. I write these words in an attempt to address the growing troubles among our people in this, the thirty third year of the eleventh century._

_I have been training for months, searching for answers to the difficulties we now face. We’ve sealed the gods into our spell of containment in order to preserve them. The council had hoped to study them, to learn the secrets of their power, but for now they serve as useful allies. There have been uprisings among other peoples across this continent and fearing that they may try to invade our village in search of our work and our secrets of magic, we have employed the gods to help us. Wye insists I call them merely summons, since that is all they do these days, come once summoned; after all, can they really be called gods trapped within a spell made by mortals? With their assistance we have quelled the desire for our secrets among the Demcyns, whose desert spies tried to sneak into our library several weeks ago. From now on, we will be instructing those beneath us strictly by oral tradition. The powers we have discovered and learned to control are not fit for everyone’s hands and we must guard them against misuse. We will be serving our texts to the summons, hidden by magic that will serve to confuse and discourage them from reading them. They will be safe there, away from other human eyes. This decision however, has caused divisions among us. We have already witnessed a split of beliefs. Forty of our scholars left and formed a colony of their own on another continent. We received word some time ago that they had formed their village around one of the crystals itself, wanting to study it more closely and help train the indigenous people there in the uses and applications of magic. I believe they wish to start a school there. They are more open with their ideas of sharing knowledge, but time will tell which of us chose the wiser path. In the meantime, our largest concern is a handful of individuals wielding wild magic. There have been reports of people with untamed magical abilities in many villages. It seems that they were failed transformations on their ways to becoming gods. Without the ability to control most of their powers, and without proper instruction, they use their powers indiscriminately. One such individual was found in a village near here that, in a bout of anger, released a variation of a fira spell and burned his house to the ground, killing his family inside it. These are the powers of instinct, dangerous in hands that do not know how to reign them in. I hate to admit, but they are very much like the monsters that now prowl the forests and mountains surrounding our village. They too were half steps between their beastial forms and the intelligence and power of the gods. Their instincts combined with these new strengths have been a cause of grief to us and forced us to guard our borders more diligently. Are the people who use their powers without knowledge no better than these monsters?_

_Even among our own, we have noticed unusualities. A young woman, a student of the white arts, who has spent years studying the writings of Hirion and become quite a master, has been showing an alarming touch of wild magic. Somehow she can ascertain events happening elsewhere with an uncanny efficiency that has baffled even the most skilled of our scryers. The scrying process, that took over fifty years to perfect and only with the help of special materials, is known to take many days to do. She has somehow managed to perform this within hours, perhaps minutes. Wye entered her home and found no materials necessary for scrying, rousing his suspicions at first. When asked, she would not answer directly how she had come to know this information. A person with such an ability is dangerous. We have no way of knowing if she has been connecting to the minds of others, and if so, if she is giving out information about us without realizing it. She cannot be trusted. Even with her training, there’s no telling how she might develop this and use it, or worse, if someone else can exploit it and turn her against us. We will have to deal with her soon, before it manifests a greater danger to us as we’ve seen happen with others._

            Rydia scanned farther along, and noticed a name that made her heart stop beating in her chest. She jumped to that entry and continued reading.

 

            _Asura has refused to comply with our requests to surrender her pursuit of magical studies. Her powers have grown tremendously and she can command most of our spells with simple gestures, without the aid of words. Her hiding of this ability from us was at first an insult, now a device of distrust. I believe she has gone beyond simple unorthodoxy, and been entirely transformed. She wields powerful spells with ease, but she seems burdened, as if she tires. Still, Asura is just as sharp as ever, and her control is without question. Even her physical appearance is changing. She can appear one way one day, and another way the next, as if she has multiple faces, multiple heads. I believe she may have become a god, and if this is the case, there is nothing we can do for her now besides place her with the others. Soon we will have no other choice, unless she wishes to die as the rest of the summons may have had we not assisted them._

 _This distresses me greatly. One of our own making such a journey and being unable to share the path with the rest of us. Strangely, I am relieved she completed her transformation. The solution for her is simple, place her within the spell and she will be bound to our commands, her powers within our control. Had she remained human with these heightened abilities the alternatives may have been grim. We cannot afford to have rogue magicians roaming the earth. There’s no telling what might happen to the kingdoms and tribes of the world with wild magic on the loose. The gods have already been contained, but these humans must be dealt with as well…_  

 

            Rydia’s throat constricted with a wave of grief and nausea. There it was. This was what had been hidden from her since she’d arrived. This was who Asura really was.

“Not all humans embraced becoming summons,” she remembered the queen telling her all those years ago.

 _No wonder_ , Rydia thought darkly. For the transition between human and magical being, sacrifices had been made, some without consideration to free will. Asura had only wanted to lead a normal life, not be trapped here for the rest of it.

The queen had _been_ an Adrin, even if only for a short time before the magic completed its work with her. Not accepted by her own people for her unorthodox practices, betrayed by them in the end, and being trapped in a sanctuary turned prison. She’d been trapped here all these centuries, being forced to answer the calls of the very people who’d turned on her simply because she understood magic better, felt it more keenly.   

            Rydia wondered if she would have met a similar fate if her village knew what she was. Would they have turned on her as they had Asura if they knew? Would she have been forced to make the decision to keep the trust of others, or pursue the depth of her own abilities? Asura had tried to develop her skills and been marked as a traitor, a heretic. But no, all Rydia had to show of her heritage was her green hair and a curious sense of the elements. Her visions were a far-cry from Asura’s, probably no more than a shred of the Adrin’s abilities that had been passed on to her, if she was in fact, a descendent as she hoped. Rydia realized then that the lines between her own people and the Adrin ran deep. This had been a battle over who was worthy of using magic, those who’d studied, or those who’d naturally acquired the arts. If she wanted to mend the damage done, she’d have to perform a near miracle. _What was my mother trying to do by having me and keeping me in secret?_ Maybe it was for her own protection, she thought. Maybe her mother had just wanted to keep her safe.

            She set the journal aside, as if it was a dangerous acid that might burn her if she touched it any longer. Yet another dark chapter of the summoner’s history, and here she was, trapped within the middle of what was and what could be. Her quiet day of reading hadn’t turned out to be as quiet as she’d hoped.

            _Oh, Asura,_ she reflected sorrowfully, _I think I understand what you meant now._


	26. Chapter 26

            Six months passed. Six nervous and self-deprecating months for Rydia. What she’d read in the journal that day so many months ago she’d tried to push aside but couldn’t. In her search for more information about the Adrin and a way to control her ability, she’d only become aware of the darker side of what it meant to be a summoner. After reading the account of Asura, she’d read a few pages more, and saw more of that darkness unfold. The enslavement of the summons was written there on the page in front of her, and she felt her spirit crumble. She could hardly palate the things her own people had done. Most of it their actions had been cruel and calculated, hardly what she’d envisioned when she’d heard stories of the wise elders and previous high summoners from the other villagers. They were a peaceful village! Where had all of this violence and greed come from? She’d hidden the journal under her bed in the furthest corner, never wanting to open it again and learn any more of the summoner’s cruel secrets. The fact that it had been penned by a high summoner who had willingly done such things, was another blow to the summoner name, another crack in the image Rydia had held on to since she was just a slip of a thing. It was one thing to hear about the horrible things, it was another to read them firsthand. Like a heavy burden it rested on her heart, and she felt that even reading the words had somehow made her responsible—made her unclean. She was one of _them._

            Her studies had suffered dramatically ever since. She blamed it on her fluctuating moods and the growing pains she’d been experiencing, but even while she said it, she felt hollow. She wished her studies were suffering because of those reasons, not that she had begun to question her own heritage and all that it meant to her. She couldn’t help but look with sympathy at Black and the others when she performed her drills, recited her spells, and perfected her writing. Every word she spoke, and every line she wrote was like a wall dividing her from the rest of them, reminding her of who she was--a human and a summoner. She no longer wanted to complete her training. She didn’t want the power or the ability to control others. She did not want to walk down that path and come out twisted on the other side. The possibility for evil was in her bloodline, but did that mean she was chained to it?  

            Coming to these discoveries had made her understand a lot of what she’d witnessed in the years she’d been in the Summoned Land. She now understood the wary stares, the hostility, and snide remarks she’d received when she first arrived. They’d told her why they didn’t like the summoners, but for some reason just hearing the words hadn’t been enough, hadn’t shaken the cold truth into her, that the summoners hadn’t just been mean, they’d been malicious. They must have been looking at her as if she stood for all the evil that had been done to them for centuries beyond her reckoning.

Rydia couldn’t even look Shiva in the eye after that. She kept wondering how Shiva must feel to answer her calls whenever she practiced her incantations in the caverns. Did it bother her, to be subservient to yet another “master”? Shiva had told her long ago that it didn’t bother her, but was she being truthful? Was she merely trying to propel Rydia forward in her training to end her own captivity?

A part of Rydia wanted to ask. Another didn’t think she had that right. Knowing what had happened to Asura was a sensitive matter, and she didn’t know how much the other summons knew. Had it been like this for a lot of the others as well? The storm of questions and rampant emotions was exhausting. She could almost feel the pain of betrayal, when the summons learned that their trust had been abused, and the summoner’s spell kept them in bondage. All of the boundaries she had crossed, thinking she was nothing if not innocent, only to learn that as the last of the summoners, she carried their sins and burdens with her. She’d been completely blind to it. How careless she’d been toward the feelings of the summons!

            She had been hoping that they might accept her as one of their own, but now she wondered if it could never be, and it tore her apart. She wasn’t a summon, but she wasn’t entirely human either; caught somewhere in between with her hair and visions serving as a daily reminder. Had she nowhere to belong? The upper world had killed her people because of their powers, the lower world didn’t like her kind and didn’t entirely trust her either.

            What was she, then? Was she fighting for the wrong reasons? Had she been spending all this time looking to bring justice to her fallen people only to find out that part of her now despised them? It was only one of many tasks, and the work before her appeared never-ending. Help Cecil. Help the summons. Save the world. But was she the right person for the job?

            She ticked off the tasks on her fingers, thinking glumly about how difficult each of them would be. The summons intended her to become a high summoner, to assume the mantle of responsibility and lead them into the battle for the world. But the task was two-fold. Only a high summoner could understand the delicate runes and incantations of the containment spell and devise its destruction. Did they really have faith in her, or was it just the freedom they wanted? Aside from that, she had to solve the centuries’ old fight between the summoners and the Adrin, defy common sense by finding Mist and bringing her back from the dead, and most importantly of all, she had to help save the world from its pending destruction. She’d made so many promises. How was she going to keep them all?

            She no longer felt worthy--didn’t feel at all committed to the tasks anymore. Who was she to make such large promises—to lift everyone’s hopes? Everything felt horribly wrong. Why had Ramuh and Shiva placed their supposed trust in her, knowing full well that she was the very thing they despised?

 

            Rydia’s shift of attitude and her declining studies had not gone unnoticed by Shiva, and no matter how hard Rydia tried to hide her reluctance, it was hard to keep the frown from her face. The ice summon had been giving her pointed looks and making comments about her seeming laziness, and it only made Rydia feel worse. How could she tell them that she didn’t want to be a summoner anymore? She didn’t want to be their enemy, she just wanted their acceptance and approval!

            Rydia thought all these things while she stacked her latest reading material into organized piles on her table. She’d recently become a fastidious cleaner. Simple order made her problems seem smaller somehow, more manageable. She was so interested in the alignment of book spines, that she hardly noticed a soft knock at her door.

            Shiva stepped in a moment later, not caring whether she was interrupting, but remaining unobtrusive all the same.

            “The queen expects you in the library,” she said tonelessly. Rydia looked away from her neat pile and nodded, feeling a jolt shoot down her body at those words.

            Shiva’s shrewd eyes searched Rydia’s green ones. It was the kind of stare that cut down to the very soul, and Rydia looked away. She didn’t want Shiva to know what was there, didn’t want to acknowledge it herself.

            “Thank you, Shiva,” she replied hurriedly, escaping the room and the ice woman’s scrutiny. She ran to the library in a flurry of green and gray robes, her insides all a mess. This was the first time in several months she’d seen the queen, and now for so many reasons the thought of speaking with her filled Rydia with dread. She had so many questions to ask but didn’t know which she should. Her hands and feet felt cold, and she had no idea what to tell Asura. Should she mention that she’d found the journal? Should she tell the queen she no longer wanted to become a summoner? Could she help Cecil without asking the summons to help her? Were her other spells enough?

            She sped into the library and down the steps, interrupting a few reading summons who glanced up in annoyance at the disturbance of their papers. When she reached the throne room, the queen was waiting for her, stiff and regal, her eyebrows set in a straight line. Rydia saw her and came to an immediate halt, feeling awkward and out of place all at once.

            “Shiva said you wanted to see me,” Rydia began, her voice small and worried.

            The queen didn’t bat an eye. If she noticed Rydia’s added anxiety, she wasn’t giving any indication. “I wanted to inform you that your friends have finally retrieved the crystal of earth.”

            Rydia’s eyes bugged out a little. She hadn’t seen a hint of that coming in any of her dreams! Why hadn’t the queen fetched her sooner?

            The queen, seeing Rydia’s look of surprise, frowned. “Did you not see it coming?”

            Rydia shook her head. “I’ve been seeing visions of a strange tower, but nothing of Cecil.”

            “They have just returned to the castle of Toroia. By some miracle, they survived their encounter with the Dark Elf with the aid of a peculiar harp.”

            Rydia’s thoughts were immediately distracted from her troubles and her heart soared. _You did it, Edward!_ She thought exultantly.

“No doubt, it had something to do with your intervention, and it stands to reason that you should be commended for it. But now is not the time. If these friends of yours do not somehow retrieve the crystals and return them to their proper places, all our efforts will have been for naught. For now all I can do is show you what is happening at this present moment. There might be something to learn from it, and possibly something for you to do. Shall we begin?”

            Rydia nodded, eager for something to distract her from her recent line of thoughts.

            The queen performed her magic and the throne room melted away.

            A different room replaced it, one with a rich burgundy carpet and intricately decorated pillars. Eight women dressed in beautiful wine colored gowns stood around the room. On their heads were dark bronze fillets shaped like autumn leaves, and Rydia studied them curiously, wondering who they were. Cecil was there also, wearing armor that glistened cool gray in the indirect light of the room’s torches. The others wore arms similar to this, and Rydia walked up to them warily, her silver clad friends about to engage in conversation with the women.

            She couldn’t hear a word they said, but their mouths were moving at such a slow pace, she thought she could make out a few. The crystal of earth was needed to trade for Rosa’s safe return; that much she understood.

            _Come on, Cecil, think of something smart_ , Rydia thought anxiously as she watched. He had to understand that there must be some way to get Rosa back without surrendering the final crystal. She hoped he knew that.

            She and the queen watched for several minutes, the queen translating occasionally. The queen could hear what they were saying, Rydia realized, even if she couldn’t. They were discussing the trade, planning what was to be done, and the women agreeing to maintain their bargain. They would lend Cecil the crystal, but demanded its safe return.

            The scene lurched and suddenly Cecil and the others were running out of the throne room, racing down long castle corridors and out into the shaded grounds of the castle of Toroia. Rydia and Asura chased after them, reaching them just as they were casting off in their airship.

            “We’re losing them!” Rydia shouted.

            “Wait a moment,” the queen answered calmly, closing her eyes and making a quick gesture of her hand.

            The vision faded to black for a moment, then returned, blurred, sharpened, and finally stabilized completely. She and Rydia were now aboard the same airship as Cecil. Rydia looked around the decking incredulously. She’d never been so high above the ground before! This was incredible—this thing that Baron had invented!

            “Look there,” the queen instructed, and Rydia’s eyes turned to another object soaring among the clouds. It was a formidable airship, one with red planking and black flags. It was headed straight for them.

            She’d been so excited by the prospect of flying that she hadn’t noticed that events were going normal speed, or near enough, anyway. She could tell the man wearing goggles at their airship’s wheel was shouting something, while Cecil and the others appeared wary, determined, but also angry. There was something about that other ship.

            The enemy airship slowed down and drew abreast to the one Rydia and the others were standing on. A long wooden plank was shoved across the space between them and Cecil stepped forward, ready to meet who was waiting on the other side.

            It took a few moments for the other airship to send its representative, but once they did, Rydia immediately felt dizzy, disoriented, and full of rage. The queen gave her an inquisitive look.

            The man on the opposite side of the gangplank as Cecil was the man wearing the dragon helm, the man named Kain.

            _Of course he’d be sent for the crystal!_ Rydia thought despairingly. Images of the crystal room of Fabul with Rosa flooded her mind. The battle, the flight to help Cecil, all snatched away by this man and Golbez. She wanted to rush forward and cast a powerful spell in his direction--see how much he liked the feeling of pain.

            She contained herself, watching silently as Cecil spoke with him. Everyone on board this ship seemed as furious as she, but none of them made a move. Several minutes later, with Cecil safely back aboard the ship and the plank removed, both ships flew off, one after the other. Cecil was following Kain’s ship, and that’s where the vision ended.

            Rydia found herself back in the Summoned Land, holding her breath, red-faced, and shaking. Cecil was going to hand over the crystal, and there that man was again. Something terrible was going to happen, didn’t Cecil see that?

            “What’s the matter with you?” the queen insisted. “You knew he was going to turn over the crystal. Foolish a decision as that is--the fate of the world over some woman.”

            Rydia ignored the queen’s jab, feeling her emotions slide dangerous out of control. “That man,” she forced out. “He’s the one that started me on this journey. He was the other who helped burn down my village, who ran away, and then attacked his own friends. If it weren’t for him, Rosa might still be with Cecil, she wouldn’t have stepped forward. Cecil wouldn’t have to trade the crystal for her life.”

            “This was the other man?”

            “He helped take away everything I knew. He’s been helping Golbez attack the other kingdoms. He’s been _killing_ innocent people!”

            Suddenly a thought struck Rydia. What Golbez was doing, destroying everyone who stood in his path to power, it was almost exactly what the summoners of old had done. They were both using the same tactics to keep power to themselves. The similarity startled her and made her want to retch. What did this mean?

            Rydia was grateful that the queen’s dark eyes were turned away from her. She didn’t want to be seen looking ill by such a simple vision. She didn’t want to tell Asura how wicked she felt.

“It’s happening all over again,” Asura said slowly, speaking more to herself than to Rydia.

            Rydia looked at the queen imploringly, wondering if she could read thoughts as well. “What is?”

            “The battle over magic. I thought this would be a different war from the start, but it’s all the same, just different players.”

            Rydia frowned. The Magician’s War. She could feel it coming; the blame, the guilt, but it never did.  

            Instead, Asura looked at Rydia with sad eyes. “This man took your home from you. He took your family, and interrupted the course of your life. I know what it’s like, to loose all those things. I should have been delighted to learn that the summoners had been destroyed. They finally got what they justly deserved, was what I’d hoped to believe. I was wrong. Knowing someone else has experienced my pain brings me no joy. No one should have to feel that pain, no matter who or what they are. The quest to control magic stole my life from me long before I became a summon. It stole yours from you as well.”

            “Magic forced you out of the summoner’s tribe,” Rydia said softly.

            The queen stared at her, but her shock was not as pronounced as Rydia thought it would be. “How did you know that?”

            Rydia folded her arms and stared at the floor. “I found it in the journal of Ganrik, an old high summoner. He wrote that you displayed powers of the Adrin, that you were better with magic than most of the other summoners. He distrusted you, wanted to get rid of you, and then you became a summon. He trapped you here and summoned you to use your powers. The summoners stole your life from you.”

            Asura exhaled sharply. “We had all devoted our lives to the perfection of magical incantations. Trap magic to the written page. Keep it in books, keep it under control.” She nearly laughed. “It’s almost fitting that magic would take its revenge by giving some the ability to use magic without words, keeping it free and wild. Who knew what would happen when the humans without this ability found out about it. Who knew the jealousy it would inspire.”

            “You said we were alike,” Rydia prodded gently. “This was what you meant all along?”

            The queen’s smile was bitter. “I was cursed because of my ability to see. It’s no spell I use, child. I’m showing you my visions. The ability I had as an Adrin, then more strongly as a summon, is what I have been using to monitor the over world for some time. That was the ability they feared I’d use against them. Very few others in history have ever had this particular gift—the ability to watch others from a great distance. Yours is hardly notable, but still enough to influence you. However, the fact that you have the faintest ability to use the same gift as myself, that does make us alike. Strange that those of similar gifts would share similar sufferings. Whoever this Golbez is, he wanted the summoners out of his way. He destroyed them much the same way the summoners destroyed the Adrin so long ago. Eliminate all threats, that’s what they both believed.”

            Rydia’s eyes became glassy with unshed tears.

            “I’m sorry for what happened to you. I didn’t know—”

            “What on earth are you apologizing for? Do you think that your apology is going to wipe a score a few thousand years old from the pages of history? It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t know. You were not a part of that, just as you were not a part of Mist’s death or your mother’s. You may be sorry, but you are not the person to apologize.”

            “But I’m the last of the summoners. I should be the one to apologize and set things right!” Rydia objected.

            “Save your breath. You’re hardly even that breed of summoner. Not even close. You may still command the power of the summoners, may use our names to call us into battle to help you, but ‘summoner’ is a name I use lightly with you. You’re a girl with a gift, small as it may be this far removed from magic’s golden age. You are the mark of change. If you want to apologize, finish the work you started. I’ll consider that recompense enough.”

            “I don’t understand, you don’t even want me here, why are you saying this?”

            “I’ve been watching you. I was worried you might be like them—power driven, crazed to control the knowledge only your own people possessed. But you passed my tests, and here you are, just a child--innocent and naïve. How ironic that I would see a possible future through the actions of a child. Fitting, perhaps.”

            “You want me to stay,” Rydia asked cautiously.

            “You’ve been here this long already, what’s the sense in getting rid of you now? Besides, for the first time in history, we’ll have someone fighting on _our_ side.”

            “Of course I’ll fight for you. But isn’t there a way to fight for you without forcing you to fight as well? I don’t want to put any of you in harm’s way, I don’t want to be that kind of master.”

            “Do not insult the summons that have given you their names. They will fight whatever battles you ask them to, not because they feel compelled to do so, but because they feel you are worthy to fight beside. We may need the magic of your summonings to replenish the strength of this spell we’re all in, but we are not so weak and without pride that we would give out our names in desperation. To not call upon those who willingly offer aid is foolish.”

            “But why do they trust me? Now that I understand what it is the summoners have done, more than I ever wanted to know, why did they change their minds? They should hate me! I would!”

            “I admit I was angry with you, furious even, that a human child of the summoner tribe would be brought here to live among us. But I’ve come to learn something since you’ve been here that I hadn’t seen in a long time.”

            “What is that?” Rydia was desperate to know.

            “That you cannot judge a person by a name. Arya first helped me to see that. You helped me to realize it.”

            “Your majesty?”

            “If you think that hating yourself for the sins of others is going to do you or anyone else any good, you’re wrong. What’s done is done. We have only the future to look forward to, and you can’t afford to doubt yourself now. Those closest to you here have overlooked the past already, there’s no need for you to carry it for them.”

            “Your majesty, do you—do you think that I belong here? That I might have a place here? I don’t feel like a summoner, and certainly not like the ones in the past, but…I’m still human. I just don’t want to be a burden to anyone.”

            “You have friends here. Friends who are willing to risk their lives for you. I’d say that wherever a person has friends, that’s where they belong.”

            Rydia bit her lip anxiously, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. “Will I always be torn in two?”   

            “That is for you to decide, not I.”

            “It’s just that, I’ve spent so much time trying to do well for my village, seeking justice, and now I don’t know if it was a good cause after all.”

            “I thought you also wanted to find justice for all the other kingdoms that had suffered needlessly. If it’s justice for the summoners you want, you might find it along the way. It is not wrong to want to find purpose in the deaths of loved ones. But let me tell you now, that justice is not the same as redemption. Redemption is another matter, and if you want to acquire that for the summoners, all you can do is learn from their mistakes and strive to step away from that mold. You are your own person, not the embodiment of an entire group of people as I told you before.”

            “You still want me to fight with the help of the summons behind me?”

            “For the last time--you’ve done well so far, I don’t see why you shouldn’t continue. Tell me, though, I heard a rumor the other day, that you promised Ramuh you’d find a way for the summoners and the Adrin to coexist peacefully. Is this true?”

            “It is,” Rydia answered resolutely.

            The queen hummed thoughtfully. “We’ve both lived lives that perhaps weren’t meant for us, and yet here we are. In a strange way, you and I are the only two left. The last two summoners, and the last summoners with wild Adrin magic in our blood. If you carry through with your promise, you’ll be all the more different from those who came before you. That was what I meant by finishing what you started.”

            Rydia listened to the queen and pondered her words carefully. They were encouraging, hard, but necessary words. “Your majesty, can you help me?” she asked suddenly, wanting to ask before she lost the chance. “Can you help me control these visions as you did before you became a summon? How did you learn to do it?”

            “As I told you before, much concentration and patience. You don’t have your way with wild magic so much as it has its way with you. You need to learn what is important and what isn’t. Be selective and don’t be influenced by every little thing you see. The sight will confuse you, take you in circles, but training your eye to notice familiar details will help you hone in on what’s pressing and what’s not.”

            “So they won’t just go away?”

            “I don’t believe so. If you want to see something other than your visions, force your thoughts elsewhere, focus on something completely different than what the vision wants to show you. Over time your mind should adjust.

I learned to do this while training in the white arts and the ability to control it led me to see many incredible things. I saw the world changing around me, witnessed small groups of people form into kingdoms. I am limited to seeing only people I have known. Focusing only on them helps me to see details around them more keenly, not scattered apart. I refused to surrender my use of the ability and that’s where most of the trouble started. I didn’t know it, but I was becoming more powerful every day--becoming a summon. When I could close my eyes and see what I wanted with barely any effort, I knew something was strange, that I wasn’t simply a summoner in training any longer. If I hadn’t received formal training, I probably never would have been able to master my ability and command my other spells with such skill, precision, and strength. If you want to control this ability of yours, I suggest you learn to better control your other magics. Master the fundamentals, and the rest should fall into place as you go. It will be difficult, but put your mind fully toward it and you should succeed.”

            “Thank you, your majesty. You’ve given me hope.”

            The corner of the queen’s lip curved slightly upwards, the merest hint of a smile. “Summoner girl, we both have a lot to learn. We may as well work together to gain our freedom--mine from this prison, and yours from the sting of history’s lessons. I can at least help you along in your quest and hope for the best. Complete control of power should belong to no one and I will not tolerate this in a new age, from a new foe. I will continue to show you your friend’s progress, if only to prepare you for what to expect when you return to them. Ignorance is dangerous in warfare, and fighting blind will do you no good. I will remind you that not everything you see will please you, but make the best of it.”

            “Your visions have been valuable to me. I can’t thank you enough for showing them to me.”

            “It’s for the good of us both. Consider what I said and return to your studies. Sometimes all that’s needed in training isn’t always intensive studying but the time to process it, and the willingness to forgive yourself. Let patience be a firm teacher to you as well.”

            Tears flowed freely from Rydia’s eyes. She’d been given permission to move on, even though she didn’t realize it was permission she’d been looking for. She felt much lighter, very relieved.

“Thank you,” she said gratefully and bowed, leaving the throne room behind. Her thoughts were now another jumbled mess, but for so very different a reason. The queen didn’t hate her after all, and she was right--torturing herself for things done in the past wasn’t going to help her or anyone else. All that mattered was what she did with her time and energy in the present. As long as her cause was just, it didn’t matter where she’d come from. She would just have to do her best.


	27. Chapter 27

            Five months passed. Rydia looked up at the small window above her door transfixed. It had been almost a year since she’d picked up the journal of Ganrik and her eyes had been opened to a truth so hard to swallow. It had been nearly a year since she’d learned who and what Asura really was, and that there had been a reason all along for the queen’s bitterness and unhappiness. 

            Asura lost everything when she gained her powers—it took Rydia losing everything she knew to find hers. They were alike but their paths were opposite. Now of the two of them, Rydia was the only one who could fight on the behalf of them both. She was the only one who had the ability to change the future for the summons. It was a frightening thought, but she knew now that the queen would be there to help her and that gave her hope. She was a fool to think she could give up now, with so many people depending on her, and so many people willing to stand beside her.

            She closed her eyes and felt the illusionary sunlight on her face, falling in a diamond over her features. She was exhausted. She and Black had studied like demons for this last half of the year; she trying to make up for lost time, and he to satisfy his own curiosity and also to help her along.

            She was nearly back to where she needed to be, finally able to rest from the grueling pace she’d been maintaining for the past several months. She was growing stronger each day, her spells gaining power, and now she knew what purpose to put them toward. She felt more confident in her pursuits, and her exercises with Shiva allowed her to unabashedly exert herself. She would fight for Asura—for all of the summons, because they were worth fighting for just as much as the humans in the upper world.

            She was glad Black hadn’t become so fed up with her that he’d stopped talking to her altogether. His companionship helped her to get through many of her difficult lessons, the ones he was able to read, anyway. As far as the texts in the Summoner’s language, all he could offer was moral support, but even that was enough.

            Today, however, she was alone. She was alone, tired, and trying to hone her concentration. Asura had told her to keep an eye on the small details, to focus only on those things in order to successfully navigate her visions, but she found practicing such a thing incredibly difficult. Asura had spoken to her lately to give her exercises to try. They began with focusing on sounds—training the ears—and then the eyes. The queen told her that only when she had trained her physical senses would her mind be able to do the same in its unconscious dream state. So far, she was having only little bouts of success, and she didn’t see how this was helping her in the long run. Her attention span just wasn’t long enough for this sort of thing, and she wondered if patience with her visions was something she was ever going to master. It was only temporary, anyways. Most of the summons believed her ability would leave her once she returned to the over world and was no longer surrounded by such potent magics. She wondered if that was a good thing. She knew it would certainly make life less complicated.

            Until she could master the visions or lose them entirely, she tried to make sense of what she’d already seen. The visions had been colorful lately, racing across her mind in streams of images and fragments of others. Thankfully, they all converged on one fixed point and her work of interpretation was significantly lessened. Everything she saw concerned the strange tower she’d visited in a vision long ago. The tower where Rosa was—where everyone seemed to be—her friends, her enemies. Something important was going to happen there, she was sure of it, but what it was, worried her. She tried not to think about it. Her friends had each other, they’d be all right. They had to be all right. She held them in her thoughts and hoped for the best.

            Opening her eyes, she decided she’d had enough practice for the day and now simply sat in the middle of her room, thinking things over. The sun drifted away, sinking beyond the window frame and the colors fading to evening.

Why did her training always leave her so tired? She yawned and finally stood up from the floor, walking to her bed. She hadn’t gone to sleep this early in a long while, but she hoped that catching a little extra rest would do her some good. It had better—Shiva expected her to be alert and prepared for each morning’s practices.

            She changed into her night clothes and pulled back the blankets. They felt so wonderful and soft, encouraging her to dive in and succumb to their charms. She slipped beneath the covers and nearly the moment her head reached the pillow, all conscious thought fled.

            She clutched her abdomen in fear, expecting to find a gaping wound, but found nothing instead. Why then was she still in pain? Had it been real after all? Had he been able to cross over physically into her dream and interact with her as she had done with Cecil and the others? But how—and why?

            The shock and confusion rattled her brain, and the pain returned in waves, bringing nausea with it. Her abdomen, her back, they felt like they’d actually been pierced with a weapon but there were no marks. Maybe this was all in her head, just a figment of her imagination. If she went back to sleep maybe it would go away, turn out to be nothing. She was reading into these dreams and visions too much—now she thought she could feel them as well. She eased herself back down into her bed and tried to ignore the pain.

            She couldn’t. She thrashed and writhed, but no matter what she did the pain seemed to accompany her every action. She rolled around so often that her bed was a heap of tangled sheets by morning. Her head ached from exhaustion and the pain had doubled. Once again she felt her stomach, just to be sure she hadn’t really been wounded, and once again she found nothing.

            She grabbed her pillow and twisted it into a rope in frustration. Why wasn’t this going away? Was she sick? After another hour of unsuccessfully trying to return to sleep, she sat up, slamming her fists into the bedding.

            “What’s wrong with me!” she shouted angrily to the empty room.

            Sitting up had clearly not been a good decision. The sharpness of pain overtook her and she doubled over, still surrounded by blankets. She tried to steady her breathing, convince herself that she was going to survive this, and tried to take control of the situation. She opened her eyes and went to pull the sheets away, to see if standing up might help her, but when she lifted the covers away, her heart stopped.

            A dark crimson stain had seeped through several sheets, and the sight of it brought all her fears to the surface. Blood? Her blood? Had she really been injured after all?

            Her heart pounded in her chest. There seemed to be so much of it, and she’d ignored it all night long? Was she going to die? Could this be cured? She felt dizzy and stayed exactly where she was, completely still. Trying to distract herself from the throbbing pain, she thought instead of all the things she hadn’t finished in her life. She was only thirteen years old! She was too young to die! She hadn’t even completed her training or helped Cecil restore the kingdoms to normal! Tears formed in her eyes and the room around her became a watery blur.

            Sunlight streamed through the window above her door. Was it really morning already? She hardly noticed.

            She continued to sit on her bed in fear and stared at the wall across the room. For some reason _now_ she could make out all the minutia in it she’d failed to see before. She wondered if most people preparing for death noticed such things, or if she was the only one. Everything had meaning, every little thing, and now she’d never have a chance to appreciate them as she should.

            She heard her door creak open, the hinges groaning at the shift of weight. Padded feet on a wooden floor…

            “Rydia!” Black’s voice resounded in her ears. It was so loud it was deafening, but she still refused to look at him.

            “Rydia!” he repeated, placing two front paws on her bed and staring at her with worried eyes. “What’s wrong with you?

            A fresh batch of tears had formed in her eyes and she slowly turned her head in his direction.

            “I’m dying, Black,” she choked out.

            He gave her a blank look. “ _What?_ ”

            “I had a dream that I was stabbed and woke up feeling the same pain. I’m sure it means something. I’m positive that I’m going to die. I’ll never free the summons, I’ll never help stop Golbez from trying to destroy all the kingdoms.”

            “What are you talking about? You were fine yesterday!”

            “I thought so too, but—then I saw the blood and—” she hiccupped.

            Black’s eyes widened. “Rydia, you can’t die! Maybe it was a spell, maybe it can be fixed! Shiva has to have an answer! Don’t move, I’ll go get her!” he exclaimed, racing out of her house and leaving her alone with her bleak thoughts.

            It felt like an eternity for him to return with Shiva. The ice summon entered with a scowl on her face. Clearly she was not in the mood to be fooled with and strode to Rydia’s bedside with an expression that warned this was not to be a joking matter.

            “What on earth is wrong with you?” she demanded tersely. “I’m in no mood to be fooled around with and you don’t look one bit close to the edge of death.”

            “I think I was wounded—in my sleep.”

            “What do you mean you’re wounded? You look fine to me.”

            “I’m _bleeding_ ,” Rydia wailed dismally.

            “Bleeding?”

            Rydia nodded. “I dreamt that I was pierced by a spear and I woke up feeling that way. My stomach hurts, my back hurts, and even though I can’t see it where the wound really is, there’s blood.”

            Shiva pursed her lips, still disbelieving. She stepped forward and tried to extricate Rydia from the mess of her bed, but stopped when she drew close.

            “Oh good _grief_ ,” she muttered, raising a hand to her forehead.

            Black, who had been sitting near the door anxiously waiting for news, jolted forward.

            “Is it true? Is she really dying?”

            Shiva made a wry expression and narrowed her eyes.

            “Rydia’s not dying,” she announced flatly.

            Both Black and Rydia locked their attention on Shiva.

            “I’m not?”

            “She’s not?”

            Shiva shook her head, rolling her eyes. “This is perhaps the most _overdramatic_ display I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s perfectly fine.”

            Rydia’s head spun. “What? What do you mean? How can I be perfectly fine and be in this much pain?”

            Shiva opened her mouth to speak, but stopped. She glanced again at Black.

            “Black, you can leave the room.”

            He pinned his ears back. “I’m not going anywhere until I know what’s going on!”

            Shiva’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “ _Now_!”

            Her tone of voice was frightening, and Black did as he was told, leaving Shiva alone with Rydia.

            “I don’t understand, it felt so real,” Rydia was saying.

            “I’m not doubting the strength of your visions, it’s knowing where the vision ends and reality begins. You’re not wounded.”

            “But the blood—”

            “Is normal.”

            Rydia’s frown deepened. “Why?”

            “I didn’t tell you this already?”

            Rydia shook her head, her eyes begging for answers.

            Shiva sighed and pushed her hair back with a hesitant hand.

            “You’re just…growing up.”

            Rydia stared at Shiva very seriously. “There’s _blood_ involved in growing up?”

            “Good grief. I can’t believe of everything I taught you, I forgot to tell you this.”

            “And the pain too? That’s normal?”

            “Yes, though I’ve never heard anyone relate it to a fatal stab wound before. I can fix something for that, as for the rest, I’ll return in a while. Wait here for me.” 

            Rydia nodded numbly. Where was she going to go in this condition? She stayed in bed, miserable and confused. No one told her this would happen. She thought the growing pains were bad enough, but now this too?

            Shiva returned in a few minutes with a flask of hot liquid and poured some into a cup, handing it to Rydia. The smell of herbs filled the room, and Rydia sipped the fluid slowly, feeling it calm her insides. After a short while the pain had subsided to only a dull throb and Shiva was able to move her from her bed. The movement felt good, her body finally able to relax after so many hours of being tensed with stress. Shiva moved around her in circles, and after a bath and some unusual construction of clothing, Rydia sat in the chair next to her little table, still a little achy, but thankfully alive. She wondered glumly if Rosa had gone through this too.

            “You’re sure this is normal?” she asked again.

            “Every girl goes through this on her way to becoming a woman. It’s perfectly normal.”

            “Did…you?”

            Shiva looked at Rydia in surprise. “So long ago I hardly remember, but yes. Actually, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by this. It explains the moodiness…”

            “Moodiness?” Rydia blinked. _This_ was why she’d been so irritable this past year? “You mean this can make me moody too?”

            “Welcome to womanhood, my dear.”

            “Does it ever…stop?”

            “When you’re much older, and unable to have children.”

            “Children?” Rydia asked, worry creeping into her voice.

            Shiva sighed and spread her hands out on the tabletop, trying to think of how to explain everything. “Rydia, the blood means you can now bear children.”

            Rydia made a face. “ _Children?_ I can’t have children now!”

“You’re not going to have any _right now_ ,” Shiva laughed.

            Rydia exhaled in relief. “But how do you know if you are or you aren’t?

            Shiva’s face fell into a blank and stunned expression. “I see we have a lot to discuss…”

            “We do?” Rydia asked innocently, so naïve.

            Shiva stared at her perplexed. “Where to begin…” she sighed, trying to keep a smile from her lips.

 


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rydia is now 14.

The world of womanhood was one Rydia had definitely not expected. It was all too strange to be real. The mere idea of having children made her dizzy. Did people _really_ do all the things Shiva had told her about? Six months had passed, and Rydia had wanted nothing more than to lock herself away with nothing but Shiva’s strong tea to sustain her. She wanted to deny that she was continuing to change. She didn’t like it, didn’t want any of it, but she slowly felt adulthood being forced upon her like a coarse shirt being pulled over her head and shoulders. There was nothing else she could do. She was growing up, that was all there was to it.

            To her chagrin, Black considered her as an alien thing, something that might break or bite depending on how it was approached. There were times when she caught his gaze, and he was staring at her as if to ascertain whether or not she was growing horns. She realized she hadn’t said much to him after that night when she’d panicked and Shiva had intervened. It was too embarrassing to discuss, so she didn’t; but now Black kept a strange sort of distance. It made the changing more difficult to bear, knowing that he thought she was probably a crazed sort of creature. She was, after all, a maelstrom of emotions, flying to anger and plummeting to sadness the next instant.

            On this particular day, she could feel the lid on her temper coming dangerously close to sliding loose. Of all people it was Black who was dutifully chipping away at her resolve. Sitting at the small table in her house, he’d been supplying her with books that might peak her interest, but he had taken to staring at her out of the corner of his eyes, and Rydia was tired of it.

            “Look at me like that one more time and I’ll cast thundara on you!” she suddenly snapped, throwing the cover of the book in front of her shut.

            Black’s golden eyes slid smoothly away, almost affronted. “What good would that do?” he quipped.

            She plopped her chin into her cupped palm in frustration. “It would make me feel better,” she muttered bitterly.

            “I’m not looking at you strangely anyway!” he objected.

            “Yes you are! Like I’m a rock moth or something!”

            “Well you’ve been acting enough like a monster lately, you may as well be one!” he volleyed.

            Outraged, Rydia slammed her hand on the table. “Take that back!”

            “Have I missed something?”

            They both turned to see Shiva crossing the room toward them with a stern look on her face. Their argument came to an abrupt halt.

            “Black, stop goading her. Rydia, stop being such an easy mark. We have work to do today, or have you both forgotten that?”

            Rydia’s anger was gone in an instant. “I didn’t forget.”

            “Good. Black, are you ready to go?” Shiva asked brusquely, a hand on her hip.

            He sighed and nodded, jumping down from his chair.

            “And Black,” Shiva continued, “I’ll have to have a word with you after this lesson.”

            “Yes ma’am,” he muttered.

            If Shiva heard the sass in his tone, she was ignoring it. She turned on her heel and waited for the two of them by the doorway of Rydia’s little home. Rydia quickly drew on her cloak of gray and green, slipping one dagger into the belt at her waist before joining Shiva.

            Without another word, Shiva led the two of them once again through the city, a path so familiar to Rydia she could walk it in her sleep. Following her jarring experience with “womanhood”, Rydia hadn’t left the city for months, but lately Shiva had resumed such training sessions.

  1. “The world won’t wait for you to stop being afraid of yourself,” she’d said. “We don’t have much time left, and growing taller isn’t something to worry about. Learn as you grow, I don’t expect you to become an adult overnight and neither should you.”   



            Rydia thought of their conversation again as she walked quietly behind Shiva—comforted by those words. If Shiva’s encouragement hadn’t been enough, her training spoke volumes to her as well. It wasn’t too long ago that she’d practiced her spells outside of the city, and the results had been startling. Her magic was different than before—it was more powerful, more controlled. It seemed her aptitude with her spells had nearly doubled and the ice summon’s curiosity had gotten the better of her. She wanted to learn Rydia’s limits and sending her more frequently beyond the borders of the city was her method of choice.

            For Rydia, sensing the new depths of her magic and learning to adapt to the changes of her body, these frequent excursions had done her good. She could feel the current of energy flowing through her, more powerful than before. The longer she went between casting magic the more she felt it bubbling up inside her, begging to be set free. The caverns were as much a release for her as they were a learning experience. Blizzara, thundara, and fira were now powerful tools at her disposal. Her transformation spells held longer durations and the energy she was able to share with Shiva during summonings allowed her to execute even greater spells.

            On the rare occasion that she called upon Ramuh, he seemed to become more lively and young, buoyed by the strength of her own magic. This change in her ability startled her but bolstered her along and helped her to think less about the physical changes she was undergoing. _Progress_ she thought in relief.   

            Shiva brought them just within the caverns and there halted.

            “Today we will do something different. I will go on ahead and conceal myself in a portion of the cavern. Your task is to find me. The same rules apply as every other session. If you encounter a foe too powerful, flee.”

            With those instructions, she cast float on the three of them and disappeared from sight. It had occurred so quickly, Rydia barely had time to register the fact that Shiva was no longer with them.  

            “We should try to find her as quickly as possible,” Black advised, nonplussed by Shiva’s quick directions and departure.

            “And why is that, my oh-so-diligent guardian?”

            “Before you undergo some beastly transformation and lose control of your senses,” he replied with a hint of jest in his voice.

            Rydia’s hands balled into fists.

            “I’m _not_ a monster!” she sputtered.

            She could have sworn he bore a smile on his face. It was hard to tell, the whiskers and all.

            “Shiva just says I’m going through a phase. It will pass.”

            Black sighed. Was that relief she heard?

            “I’m not a monster!” she repeated, with less venom and more self-doubt.

            “Humans are strange,” was all he said.

            Rydia began walking at a clipped pace, leaving Black to trot behind her. Her dagger strapped securely at her waist, she knew she could use it if necessary; but she felt confident enough in her magic now, that she didn’t think she would have to. If anything, she might use it against Black before any foes.

As her anger settled, she led the way through several passages that she’d now become familiar with, looking for the hidden ice summon. Rydia assumed that Shiva would conceal herself as far from the Summoned Land as possible and loathed having to spend that much extra time with Black.  

            She glanced down at him a few times before returning her eyes to the path ahead. She knew from experience that the cavern monsters were clever and could attack without warning, so she resolved to keep her attentions on the caves, not on the cat walking behind her.

            They walked in silence through several passages, and it wasn’t long before the first foe crossed their path. She and Black had just squeezed through a narrow path and rounded a corner to find a basilisk waiting for them there, black carapace shining like polished armor. It regarded her with obsidian eyes and flashing tongue, and Rydia readied herself quickly, the words of the blizzara incantation flowing through her lips. She released the power the spell contained, gathering ice out of the air and directing its path. It engulfed the basilisk, consuming joints and seeping into cracks before solidifying completely. The ice then shattered, but the basilisk was strong. The ice had cracked its carapace, but not gone far within. A tongue twice as long as Rydia was tall, shot out across the space between them. Rydia jumped out of the way, launching into another blizzara incantation. She released it, but this time focused on the fissures in the carapace, forcing the spell to attack at those points. She drove it through, freezing the basilisk from the inside out. It shattered into fragments, the remnants falling to the floor where they sizzled and melted in the molten pits.

            Black nodded in satisfaction and they moved on. There was quite a business feel to all of this, and Rydia continued to feel it more keenly as they pressed onward. Minor enemies fell easily beneath her spells and were brushed aside. Others posed more of a problem, but many of them could be handled with Black’s assistance. Those she couldn’t handle at all were avoided altogether, and Rydia relied on Black’s eyes and ears to know where and how close they were.

            After several hours of searching, Rydia was finally beginning to grow tired. “Do you sense Shiva anywhere nearby?” she asked.

            Black shook his head. “No. Wait. Yes.”

            Rydia paused to look at him. “What does that mean?”

            He looked a bit dazed. “She’s up ahead, but something’s not right. She’s using her magic!” he exclaimed, bolting along a long straight passage and up a staircase of vines. Rydia ran after him and they both emerged into another chamber of the caverns that had been carved out in the rock by magma.

            Shiva was standing in the center of the chamber, a sword of ice in each of her hands. The creature she faced was large, its body a mixture of parts and colors. The torso was that of a great cat, but its three heads all belonged to different creatures. It snarled and snapped. Rydia was taken aback. She’d never seen anything like this lurking in the caverns before.

            “This isn’t right,” Black muttered and leapt forward to stand at Shiva’s side.

            Rydia joined him a moment afterward.

            “What happened?” he asked Shiva.

            At first the ice summon was silent. “It came out of the shadows. Took me by surprise. I’m amazed that a chimera made it this far. These aren’t their usual hunting grounds.”

            “Do you think this one is like the others that tried to enter the Summoned Land?”

            “Most likely. Fenrir had mentioned that more monsters were pouring out of the tower, and many of them were headed here.”

            “I wonder why,” he mused.

            “No time,” Shiva answered tersely. “We have to destroy this one before it goes any further.”

            She cast a glance at Rydia. “Stay back. We’ll take care of this.”

            Rydia’s eyes widened fearfully. “Are you sure I can’t—”

            “I said stay back!” Shiva repeated.

            Startled by the fierceness of Shiva’s command, Rydia began to slowly retreat backwards.

            Before her, Shiva jumped toward the beast, the two swords of ice glistening sharp in her hands. She ran deftly on the air, the effects of the float spell still withstanding, and brought her swords down in graceful arcs, aiming for the heads. But the creature was quicker than Shiva had expected. It hopped backwards and reared, raising clawed paws upwards and snarling. Shiva dodged them and quickly retreated, but not before one of the heads released its magic. A terrible blue flame poured from its mouth, blazing across the ground and sweeping Shiva up in its fury. The ice summon was thrown off her feet and landed on her back, scorches on her clothing and flesh. Rydia looked on in shock. She’d never seen Shiva injured.

            Black, bothered by the state of his companion also bolted forward, teeth bared. Rydia wondered for a moment if he’d actually grown in size or was she imagining things? He too threw himself at their opponent, claws extended. His attempt was more successful, and four even stripes remained on the creature’s hide. On Black’s retreat, the same attack followed him as had Shiva’s. Blue flame lanced across the chamber, sending Black flying.

            Shiva was back on her feet, but her face was one of consternation. She wiped her face with the back of one hand, removing blood that had started to flow.

            “This one counterattacks. Black, can you get behind it?”

            He struggled to his feet, groaning. “You have a plan?”

            She gave him a knowing smile. “I _always_ have a plan.”      

            Shaking off his smoking fur, Black once again ran forward, this time giving the creature a wider berth. The chimera watched him with one of its heads while Shiva took the opportunity to run forward, throwing one sword and keeping the other. The projectile buried itself in the creature’s chest and the chimera cried out with all three heads at once. The sound of all three screams was blood curdling and Rydia covered her ears in dismay. Shiva, on the other hand, smirking with this small success, closed the distance and slashed at one of the heads, severing it from the body. Green blood jetted out of the neck where it had once been and the other two heads writhed in pain and howled. Shiva ran behind the creature rather than the way she’d come. While it turned to counterattack, Black arrived from its other side, leaping onto its shoulders and biting with long fangs into the neck of another head. The chimera, unsure of where this other attacker had come from, bucked and howled. Black refused to release his grip on the neck, and green blood runneled down the sides of its hide.

            Rydia could only watch helplessly. She realized this foe was beyond her, and that entering the battle would only trouble Shiva and get in the way of the two battling summons; but she felt terribly useless, standing as she was on the sides of the battle. While she watched, the head in Black’s grasp drooped and sagged, going lifeless. Only one head left.

            Shiva returned with her sword in hand. She jumped, trying to get a good vantage to place her strike, but the head ducked and recoiled. Shiva missed and landed too close to the creature’s front side. The last remaining head lunged for her and dug its teeth into her arm. Shiva cried out in surprise, dropping the sword in her arm. She pelted the creature’s head with her other fist, snarling at it, furious with pain. When it failed to release her arm, she gripped the sword she had lodged in its chest and pulled it out, using a leg for leverage. The sword came free and she pierced it through the spinal cord of this final head. The jaw went slack, her arm freed. The body fell limply to the ground. Shiva clutched her wounded arm and Black slowly walked toward her, his coat covered in splashes of green blood.

            “Tougher than he seemed.”

            Shiva nodded. “Close combat wasn’t the wisest decision on my part,” she admitted.

            “But chimeras absorb ice.”

            “Hm,” she conceded, then turned to see Rydia watching the two of them, worry splayed across her face. “Come here, Rydia,” Shiva called.

            Rydia did so, quickening her pace the nearer she got. “Are you all right?”

            Shiva nodded wearily. “Fine. I’m ending today’s training. We’ve had enough excitement for one session.”

            Black snorted. “Excitement indeed.”

            “Both of you take hold of me. I’ll take us back home.”

            Rydia grasped one of Shiva’s sleeves and Black leaned up against one of her legs. Shiva spoke the teleportation spell and they arrived at the portal to the city.

            Shiva bore a frown. “Strange,” she mumbled, shaking her head.

            They stepped onto the portal, neither Rydia nor Black commenting on this strange appearance in the caverns. Not yet. Upon entering the city, several summons stopped to look at them strangely, many in their human guises. Some had taken to this disguise whenever they knew Rydia was walking about, but some simply preferred walking on two legs than four. It allowed them to free their arms for other activities.

The eyes turned on Shiva were that of shock. It must have been a sight for them to see the stern woman bleeding and singed. Black didn’t look too wonderful either. His fur was a terrible mess, blackened and smoldered. Rydia felt strange not having a single mark or blemish to her person. 

            Some tried to come closer but Shiva waved them off. “It’s fine,” she told them in her authoritative voice. To Black and Rydia she said, “We’ll head to the library. The king and queen must be told of this. Don’t stop. Try not to look at too many people. I don’t want to raise a spectacle.”

            Rydia led the way, Black behind her, and Shiva in the rear. They made such a strange traveling group through the city. Rydia prim and neat in front and Black and Shiva a ragtag mess behind her. They passed through the sections of the city as quickly as they could, passing many curious eyes. Ramuh even saw them at one point and to Shiva’s dismay, followed them. Shiva appeared to bristle, her pride injured at Ramuh seeing her out of pristine condition. She generally prided herself for returning from errands unscathed, but not today.

            Ramuh followed them to the library, saying little, but did not enter the throne room. He halted at the final staircase while Shiva took the lead and strode into the room.

            Leviathan was waiting for them, standing in human guise with his arms folded. A look of appraisal was on his face. Asura stood beside him, dubious.

            “Please explain to me, Shiva, how you managed to find yourself in such a sorry state. Black as well. This is most unusual even for you,” the king inquired.

            Shiva squared her shoulders, and Black seemed to wilt a little in defeat. Rydia stood behind them, peering past Shiva’s back.

            “There was a chimera in the caverns. I was caught off-guard,” Shiva explained.

            “A chimera? That’s a tower dwelling beast.”

            “As I thought,” Shiva stated. “I did not anticipate its attacks as I should have. It took both Black and myself to subdue it.”

            “Is it dead?”

            “Yes, quite,” Shiva answered.

            Asura was watching Rydia with the same shrewdness she bore toward everyone. “You are not injured, girl?”

            Rydia shook her head. “Shiva told me not to engage in the battle.”

            Asura’s gaze shifted back to Shiva. “This is yet another of a series of battles with strange monsters in the caverns. Fenrir has been sent out to gather information, but for all his speed, who knows when we will hear from him again. It could be months, only the equivalent of days in the outerworld.”

            “Do you think these attacks are being guided?” Shiva asked.

            “If the man Golbez wants to control the magic of the world and subdue any that might oppose him, it is possible we are his next target. First the summoners, then the summons. It is possible he doesn’t know the danger we already face with the near annihilation of the summoners themselves, and therefore, sending monsters as his spies to sense the magic of this spell could be a problem for us.”

            “How many summons are currently being placed to guard the entrance to this land?” Shiva prodded.

            “Enough for now, but if chimera or even greater beast attacks begin to escalate, many more will have to defend the door.”

            “We will take this information to heart and decide what else to do with it,” Asura assured them. “Unfortunately, there is nothing else to tell you. Wait a moment and I will heal those wounds of yours.”

            The queen spoke the words of a cure spell and its soft glow filled the room, stitching flesh and skin together again. Shiva flexed her arm experimentally, the gash from the bite she’d received gone from existence.

            “I’d suggest cleaning yourselves off as quickly as you can. I don’t want to bring too much attention to this too soon. You may leave now.”

            Dismissed, Shiva led the retreat from the room. Rydia wasn’t sure, but it seemed the woman brooded. When they had closed the door, Ramuh was waiting for them at the top of the stairs.

            “Are you going to explain what happened?” he asked, finally voicing his concern.

            Shiva’s look was icy. “Chimera. We handled it fine. Just took me by a bit of surprise.”

            “You too, Black?”

            Black’s face was set in neutral. “Blasted counterattack.”

            When that was all either of them said, Ramuh didn’t ask any more questions and merely joined them in their departure from the library.

            When they arrived at the front of Rydia’s small home, Shiva made it quite obvious that she was leaving for the day.

            “Since today didn’t go entirely as planned, I’m rescheduling your test to a later time. For now, try to get farther in your readings of the summoner texts, Rydia. I’ll come to you soon to discuss how your training will progress from here onward.”

            Rydia nodded as the ice summon walked away, Ramuh beside her, still curious as to how exactly she’d been injured. Black remained with her at her doorway.

            “Aren’t you going in?” he asked, sounding perturbed.

            Rydia looked down at him. “You’re staying with me? I thought I was too much of a monster to be tolerated.”

            “Your bed is soft,” he retorted.

            Rydia rolled her eyes and opened the door. Black stepped inside and hopped onto her bed, stretching out his limbs and beginning the ritual cleaning. Rydia cast him a cursory glance, unstrapped the belt from her waist and hung it from its hook near the door. She ran a hand through her long green hair and walked to the table in the center of the room.

            The books on her table were open, their pages facing her with the letters scratched on, dancing across her vision. After the excitement in the caves, her mind had a difficult time wrapping around reading texts for the next several hours, possibly days.

            “Have you ever seen Shiva injured before, Black?”

            He looked up from his grooming. “No. I also don’t accompany her very often outside of the city when she’s on an errand.”

            Rydia frowned. “Why didn’t she use one of her more powerful attacks?”

            “I don’t know. She might have had her reasons. Maybe she was saving her strength?”

            “I hope she recovers quickly.”

            “What do you mean? Asura healed her—you were there.”

            “I wasn’t talking about her body. I was talking about her pride. I’ve never seen her so angry.”

            “I suppose that’s true. She’ll recover quickly enough. She may consider it a personal challenge from now on, but she’ll be fine.”

            “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do anything.”

            “Shiva told you not to get involved.”

            Rydia shook her head. “Still. I should have done something.”

            “And end up burnt? You’ll be able to fight against monsters like that soon enough on your own. Don’t get too hasty. By the way, that pile you’ve collected—anything worthwhile?”

            Rydia absently flipped through some pages. While she understood a lot of what was written, certain passages eluded her. The language was still too difficult for her to decipher.

            “I’m only finding snatches of complicated magic commands and bits of lore. There’s little of what I really want to read, and I’m beginning to wonder whether or not it exists at all.”

            “I don’t think there would be any belief that the void existed without reason to think so. There has to be mention of it somewhere.”

            “I wonder if it’s mentioned in the sections I can’t read, but if that’s the case, it will take a long time for me to figure out what it means. I also haven’t found anything out about how the spell around this place was cast or how to undo it.”

            Black sighed and returned to licking the charred wads of his fur. Rydia didn’t want to think what kind of hairballs he would no doubt acquire later on. Or did summons not worry about those sorts of things?

            She pulled a chair away from the table and sat down, beginning to read. The same thing greeted her eyes as many times before. Stories about different attempts at mastering new spells, the successes of using magic in farming—things that she might have found interesting if she weren’t so anxious to find something else, something more particular to her situation.

  1.             She flipped ahead. A different script flowed across the page. It was more elegant and refined than the others before it and even the arrangement of the words of the page looked more artful than functional. She read a few lines and found that the words read like musical notes. They were long and short, their cadence filling her head. She flipped a few pages past and came across yet another series of these similarly constructed passages. One, however, was different than the others, but still old in dialect. Once again she began to read, but when she finished it, her eyes froze over the words. She blinked and re-read the passage.                  



            _A dreamer sees what cannot be seen. What was, what is, what will occur…Who knows what dreams the dreamers dream.  Truth in riddle? Young and old alike, they argue. Perhaps only the weavers bear the answers. Exploration leads them to separate mind from body and wander the planes of thought. Otherworldly. Some never return, their bodies left to see unseeing. The weavers of dreams, the interpreters of thought, lost to the nothingness where others dare not tread. Are they magical beings? Are they ghosts? Or have they crossed one of the boundaries of this world and found the other side more to their liking? The boundary between the corporeal and the spiritual, between magical and natural. Can they be crossed? Are there spaces between these things where something else exists? Are there shadow realms that can only be reached with the mind, touched by thought? So that to think they exist gives them existence, and to dream them brings them to life? I have often pondered this and so continue. Perhaps to learn the truth I must take that journey myself—to the other side._

Rydia pushed the book away and sat up straighter. Shadow realms? Spaces between? Could it be the Void? Could it be one of those places?

The words of the passage were confusing, but she thought she largely understood their meaning. People who could separate their minds from their bodies and wander the planes of thought? How far did those planes reach? Could they touch the realm of the dead? Was it possible to do this herself? After all, she had the ability to see visions, perhaps all it took was yet another step forward. There were risks, but could there be greater benefits as well? Could you bring a wanderer back with you?

            She skimmed the entry a bit further but found very little that warranted usefulness. What she’d already read, however, had been enough to spark an old desire. Was it almost time for her to be ready?

            “Eh? Did you find something useful?” Black asked again, looking up once again from his angry grooming.

            Rydia gave him a tight lipped smile. “Just surprised a little, that’s all,” she hedged.

            He stared at her with one eye half-open.

            “Really, the text just changed in a way I wasn’t expecting. Are you feeling better?”

            The ratio in size of his eyes changed yet again. “I’m…fine. In fact, I’m going to bed. Hopefully the frizz will have gone away by morning.”

            Rydia watched him hop down from her bed and bounce to his corner, fully equipped with a mound of blankets and pillows. It was almost more extravagant than her own bed. He buried himself beneath a blanket and she could see the lump moving in a circle until his head reappeared a few moments later.

            “Will your fur really repair itself overnight?”

            He yawned. “I _am_ magical, you know.”

            Watching the cat summon prepare for a night of rest, made Rydia tired as well. Facing a wall, she slipped into her sleeping gown and dipped beneath her covers. _Dreams_. How could someone go about slipping between dimensions in their sleep? Did she do it already? Slipping between great physical distances? She fell asleep with those thoughts on her mind.

 

………………………………………….

 

            The following morning Black was gone. It wasn’t surprising. He usually went on his own accord long before she ever did. She dressed and did her early morning routine, then stepped outside her door for some “fresh” air. The city did not look like it usually did at this time of the morning. Summons were rushing about in all directions, and many of them hadn’t even bothered to hide their true forms. Shapes and colors of all kinds greeted Rydia’s eyes as she looked about. What were the summons doing?

            Rydia espied Black among the throngs of Summons and wove her way toward him.

            “Black, what’s going on?” she asked above the din.

            “Fenrir’s back.”

            She frowned, this statement’s true meaning lost to her.

            “Black,” she hissed, “What does that mean, exactly?”

            “Come with me. Leviathan is going to make an address.”

            Her eyes opened wide. “He’s going to what?”

            “Just follow me.”

            She pushed between more summons and tried to keep an eye on Black’s tail as he dipped between and around people’s legs.

            They reached the arena and sure enough, half of the Summoned Land’s population was crowded into it. Leviathan stood on a tier, in human form, if for no other reason than to stand even taller above the crowds.

            Black tried to lead her closer to the summon king, but they were stymied halfway through the enormous crowd. There they waited.

            After several minutes of tumult, the king finally raised his arms. Quiet gradually fell on those assembled and Rydia’s attention was solely on the king.

            He spoke, and his words were so loud and resonant that Rydia hardly thought that she and Black needed to have struggled to get so close.

            “My fellow brothers and sisters, I have news of grave importance! Our dear friend Fenrir has returned from his journeying and has information that grieves me terribly…”

            There were murmurs among the Summons.

            “Activity in the Tower of Babil has grown of late. The presence of magic there is abnormal and everyday it seems more monsters, brainless beasts, are released from its doorstep. Some have found their way to our city more than once, I’m sure you know this. I ask you now to trust me. I am ordering that the watch be strengthened to the portal of this city. We cannot allow anything to find its way onto our streets or into our hallowed homes. I would close the portal, but during this critical time with no summoners to give us information of the outside world, it is our only way of keeping watch on the affairs in the Tower. As for what grieves me, the creation of these monsters is not without purpose. A man named Golbez has somehow found a way to discover the secrets of the Tower, secrets even we hardly know of. There is a great power he is hoping to unleash and his purpose is to destroy the earth, this much we have discovered. However, before he can enact his plan, he first hopes to destroy anyone who stands in his path. It seems that he has become aware of our presence in the underground, even knows that our domain is penetrable. I do not know how he has become so enlightened, but it would seem he has decided to declare war on the Summons. We must tread carefully here. If we unleash our power within this spell, we will eat away the spell’s very essence—our lifeline. Therefore, we must keep vigil beyond the city, outside of the spell. Those of you with magic honed for combat, I will ask that you form teams. Each team will scout in shifts. Stay on your guard. Who knows what this sorcerer has done to these monsters, or if they have greater powers then they ought. This is no longer a war fought simply by humans. We have been directly engaged, and this latest report from Fenrir has confirmed that the attacks are not, in fact, at random. The time has come for us to fight for ourselves and fight we shall. Go now and prepare yourselves. I fear these coming months for us will be difficult. This assembly has now ended.”

            Leviathan walked away from the edge of the tier and retreated up the side of the arena, returning to the library. Rydia watched his back, until the purple of his robe faded from sight. The Summons around her were now talking in earnest, many of them splitting up and returning to their homes, and several remaining in the arena discussing this abrupt order from their king.

            “If that portal had never opened the boundary of the spell in the first place—”

            “Those fools the humans, they’ve brought another wave of grief upon us—”

            “Whose group are you joining? You’ve the power of the wa—”

            “Rydia.”

            Her ears were buzzing from the chatter, her thoughts distracted.

            “Rydia!” It was Black.

            She looked down at him, her eyes full of fear and alarm. “Is it really…that bad?”

            “If Fenrir has found something amiss, then I’m inclined to believe him. I just don’t understand how Golbez figured out where we were.”

            “This affects my training, doesn’t it?”

            “Yes it does, but I don’t know how greatly.”

            “Rydia!” another voice called to her from a distance away. She turned to see Shiva walking toward her with Ramuh and Ifrit. She watched them approach with great curiosity. What was she up to now?

            “You’ve heard it, then?” Shiva asked.

            Rydia nodded.

            Shiva looked to the other two summons standing beside her and gave a cursory nod to each one.

            “We who have given you our names, will comprise your team.”

            “My—my team?”

            “It is time that as a true summoner, you fight as one. The time for training on our part is nearly complete. There is little more that we can teach you that you won’t learn on your own. Therefore, with Golbez directing his attention at us, we will fight beside you as comrades.”

            Rydia was so taken aback, her mouth fell open without permission.

            “Y—you’re giving me the responsibility of this group?”

            “Sooner or later you were going to have to take such responsibility. Upon your return to your human companions, it would have been very much the same. This is where we know just how far you’ve come.”

            “I’m confused. Does this mean my training is over?”

            “No. It means your training is finally being put to use. Don’t lose focus, not for an instant. Our power added to yours, our team cannot fail.”

            “Shiva…”

            “Of course, I’m coming too,” Black interjected from behind. “I’m the brains behind this little group of ours.”

            Ifrit snorted with distaste and Ramuh lifted an eyebrow.

            “Black, you’re an apprentice. Your powers have not yet emerged, but you still want to enter this fight?”

            “Of course! Besides, I taught Rydia half of what she knows anyway! It’s only fitting that I should accompany her.”

            “Very well. I will learn the time of our shift and deliver it to you. Rydia, in the meantime, I urge you to continue to teach yourself the Summoner’s language. We are dramatically running out of time. The more powerful magics that you have been studying will take time to complete, time we don’t have right now, so it’s knowledge of a different kind that you should focus on now. I’ll come to you later.”

            With those words, Shiva left the arena, Ifrit trudging after her looking non-too-pleased. Ramuh, however, stayed behind.

            “Rydia. I’m proud of the progress you’ve made in so short a time. Even lately, your powers are stunning and only continuing to grow. I’m afraid from here on, things become very serious.”

            “I understand.”

            “I have faith in you, Rydia.”

            “Thank you, Ramuh.”

            “Go home and do what you must. I look forward to our first battle together.”

            “Ramuh…”

            He began to amble away, but Rydia ran forward and hugged him around the waist.

            “I’ll do my best!” she cried.

            Even though she couldn’t see it, she knew he nodded. “I know you will.”

            She let go of his waist and he looked down and smiled at her. “You’ve become quite the young woman.”

            She blushed. “Black, let’s go home and prepare. There’s not a chance that Golbez is going to succeed here.”

            “Agreed.”

 

 


	29. Chapter 29

 

            It was quiet where she was, unnervingly quiet. She knew Black and the others were close by, but crouching where she was within the cavern wall, she felt as if she may as well have been completely alone. The heat of the floor rose around her, causing a sweat to break out on her skin while she peered through the thick vines of the wall. This patrol had been uneventful so far, but she couldn’t afford to let her guard down. During the last four months, attacks had spread like a rash throughout the caverns against creatures not of the usual fare.

            It was Shiva who had insisted they all spread out this time, but Rydia worried this arrangement might create more problems than solutions as she waited for approaching intruders. While she waited, keeping guard, she couldn’t help but feel like a hunted animal. She wondered at it. How had she gone from hunter to hunted? 

            She looked farther down the narrow passageway to where Black was supposed to be watching, and could barely make out his spotted coat. Knowing he was still there offered her some reassurance, but she still felt like an island in the middle of a molten sea.

            She was worried to be by herself. Her magic was well honed, Shiva had said, but still not enough for her to stand alone. She needed the third level elemental spells for some enemies if she was to battle them completely on her own. That fact alone made Rydia a little more than fearful. If a monster was to come directly toward her hiding place, what was she supposed to do? Would she be able to do anything useful before her companions arrived? Images of terrible wounds flashed through her mind and her knuckles turned white where they had been tightly gripping her knees.

            Minutes passed with no sights or sounds of intruders when Shiva’s lithe figure rounded a bend and walked boldly through the open corridor. She bore a few cuts on her otherwise perfect skin, and her hair had been whipped back as if by a great wind.

            “Rydia, you can come out now,” she said. If no one had known better, they might have thought the summon was speaking to herself.  

            Rydia ran toward the nearest opening in the vines and slipped through. Shiva noticed the worried look splayed across her features.

“Scratches are nothing. I took care of my corridor with few problems, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Where’s Ifrit?”

“Enjoying himself. Ifrit took it upon himself to fight a small group of intruders on his own. He should be returning to us soon. Last I saw he had the upper hand.”

            “You’ve heard nothing from Ramuh?”

            “I’m sure he’s all right. Did nothing come through these corridors?”

            Rydia shook her head. “Nothing.”

            “Hmm, nothing for you to practice on. That’s a shame.”

            “Yes, it was a shame,” Rydia lied, truly relieved.

            “Black, you can come out as well!” Shiva shouted down the passage.

            A few moments later the small form of Black came ambling through a tangle of vines and walked toward the two of them.

            “Nothing interesting today, Shiva. If you and Ifrit wanted all the action for yourselves you should have said so in the first place,” he said tetchily.

            “It was coincidental that more intruders came through our corridors than yours.”

            “Coincidental, my foot!” Black argued. “You two were sitting near the main passageways, of _course_ intruders were going to come through there!”

            “Black, if they were to get past us, how well would you have done on your own?”

            “I have powers you haven’t seen!”

            “What power is that? Are you going to talk your enemies to death?”

            Black’s tail twitched violently and Rydia realized this argument was about to get worse.

            “Maybe we should change the arrangement for next time,” she proposed.

            Black and Shiva turned to look at her.

            “But separating is the best way to engage as many enemies at once,” Shiva objected.

            “If they come through a few corridors, all we have to do is split up into two groups and wait at either point. Doesn’t that make more sense?” Rydia pressed.

            Shiva scrunched her lips together. “Very well. The next patrol we will divide into two groups.”

            “I refuse to be in Shiva’s group,” Black announced.

            Shiva sighed wearily. “We’ll decide who’s in which group when we return to the city.”

            Ifrit suddenly appeared from the same direction Shiva had done minutes earlier. Ramuh came as well from a different direction.

            “I believe our shift is over,” Ramuh called to them as he approached.

            “We were just preparing to return,” Shiva answered.

            “I could stand to stay here longer,” Ifrit grumbled when he got nearer.

            “Ifrit we can’t have you stay out here forever. Even _you_ will run out of strength eventually,” Shiva replied.

            “I’d do a lot better than you would, ice princess,” he spat.

            Ramuh made a face. “What a happy group we have,” he pointed out.

            “Let’s just go back already,” Black fumed, trotting away in the direction of the Summoned Land.

            Rydia glanced at Ramuh who met her gaze with an equally sympathetic look. Since the five of them had begun taking shifts to guard the city, group dynamics had been unbalanced and full of confrontation. Sooner of later something was going to have to be done about it.

            Rydia followed Black and Ramuh walked by her side. These patrols had all been unique experiences, but now it was a matter of getting everyone to work together that bothered Rydia. She was tired of the arguments.

            They arrived at the portal in heavy silence and stepped through to a nice warm afternoon. Shiva and Ifrit departed almost immediately, but Ramuh paused to turn toward Rydia.

            “Everyone here has a different personality, but some are more similar than they’d like to admit. Sooner or later they’ll come around, just be patient.”

            “Next week, then?”

            He nodded. “Next week indeed.”

            Rydia smiled and departed, Black brooding in front of her. It wasn’t until they were halfway to her house, that Rydia spoke up.

            “Why are you mad at me now?”

            “I’m not mad.”

            “Black, your tail announces to everyone within a mile what mood you’re in. You’re mad.”

            “I have nothing to say.”

            Rydia rolled her eyes. “We can’t keep doing this. For the better part of the year you haven’t been speaking to me much at all.”

            He looked back at her vehemently. “I should say the same thing about you! Ever since you—and that—and whatever it is—that transformation that all humans go through to grow up or whatever that is, you haven’t exactly been the easiest person to talk to either.”

            Rydia’s face was incredulous. “I thought Shiva explained all of that to you! What are you still so upset about?”

            “Shiva hardly told me anything! She was too busy in meetings or training to talk to me, and you with your exercises with Ifrit and Shiva, you’ve been preoccupied for months. I don’t even know what spells you’re learning right now and I practically live with you!”

            “Yes you do! You’re the one supplying my books!”

            “That doesn’t mean I know what you’ve been practicing!”

            “Enough already! Why is this bothering you so much?”

            “I said it’s nothing!”

            Rydia wanted to strangle him, but they continued their walk in silence. She’d pry information out of him later.

            They couldn’t have this now. There was too much at stake for all of them to be fighting.

            Black stepped into her house and she followed closely behind. She threw off her cloak and belt and sat down at her little table. This was becoming routine.

            “You know, Black, if you’re that unhappy you could always leave.”

            “Now you’re asking me to leave?”

            “Well, if you’re just going to sit there and glare at me, I don’t know why you stay,” she pointed out.

            “It’s like I hardly know you anymore!” he shouted.

            “You hardly know _me_? This coming from you—the one who keeps so many secrets? I barely know anything about who you really are!”

            “Excuse me for thinking that you wouldn’t want to hear anything about my past catching mice! And that wasn’t what I was talking about. I meant to say that you’re hardly yourself anymore. You’re changing in ways I don’t understand. What happened to the Rydia who first arrived here? Now all you care about is training!”

            “Black, the reason I’m here is to train. You said so yourself, you’re the one who’s been telling me to take things more seriously, and now you want me to stop?”

            “That’s not what I said! You used to care more about other people than fighting.”

            Rydia was agape. “I’m learning to fight so I _can_ take care of the people I love. What is wrong with you? Were you hit on the head or something?”

            “Do all humans get this way after the ‘changing’?”

            “Get what way?”

            “Selfish, self-absorbed, single minded—take your pick.”

            “Selfish? You’re calling me selfish because I’m training more seriously?”

            “It certainly seems that way! It’s like I don’t even exist anymore!”

            “That’s not true!”

            “Maybe I _will_ leave. You don’t seem to want me around anyway!”

            “Fine! I won’t have to listen to you complain all the time!”

            “Fine!” he spat, storming through the door.

            Rydia watched him go. She was hurt, outraged, and above all, filled with frustration. What had gotten into him? Wasn’t she doing this because she cared? Hadn’t he been with her through it all? She hadn’t changed that much, had she? And she hadn’t been ignoring him either, at least not purposely. It was true she hadn’t told him a few things in the last few months, but she had her reasons. Changing? She didn’t know much about that, but it wasn’t something she understood enough to explain to Black. As for what else she’d been hiding from him, the few things she’d learned about the Void she didn’t want to share either until she had more proof. With the Summoned Land in immediate danger, she didn’t want to add any more troublesome ideas to the mix.

            She couldn’t imagine how a few things withheld could cause so many problems. How was she going to fix this? Was it even her fault or something that could be fixed?

            She plunged her head to the tabletop where it hit harder than she’d planned. Groaning, she rubbed her forehead. Why couldn’t she have a moment’s peace without something going amiss?

 

…………………………………………..

 

            It was another few days before Shiva called together a meeting to discuss plans for the next patrol. It was to be held in a small meeting hall in the living area of the city, and Rydia headed there preparing for the worst. She and Black still hadn’t spoken since their fight and she wondered what would happen at the meeting.  

            The door to the meeting hall opened and the smell of burning lamps reached her nose. Shiva was there as well as all the others, but there were a few additional faces that she hadn’t expected to see. She stopped in the open doorway, not realizing that she was staring.

            “Close the door please, Rydia, and have a seat,” Shiva said.

            Rydia closed the door and sat beside Ramuh, the only person she felt comfortable with at the moment, and looked around the large wooden table.

            Fenrir was there, seated on a chair in wolf-form. His golden eyes were watchful and sharp in the light of the room and his great muzzle was held high. He was ever the presence of nobility and cunning.

            To his side was a tall suit of armor, milky and pearlescent, the plates of the armor all polished to perfection. Rydia thought it was just a strange place to have a decoration until it moved. This too was a summon? Behind Shiva, a blonde-haired woman reclined with just enough clothing on her body to prevent her from being scandalous; and huddled in a corner was a man so large, that even hunched over with his knees drawn in, he was still half the height of the wall.

            “Good evening, everyone. I’ve called this meeting to discuss the rounds of patrols for this next week,” Shiva began. “Since our two groups are the next to be sent out, I thought it would be in our best interests to have Fenrir join us and tell us what to expect in the near future about these outsiders.”

            Shiva looked at Fenrir and nodded.

            Fenrir spoke and his voice captivated Rydia as it had whenever she’s heard it previously. It was deep and clear and melodious.

            “Friends, in my travels I’ve seen many things. Golbez is not one to sit idle and is driven with a passion that is beyond madness. He has pursued the crystals in the upper world with force and meticulous planning. The crystals he has obtained, he stores in the Tower of Babil, protected by traps and wards. Their power resonates and strongly influences whatever comes near them for long enough periods of time. The monsters there, unprotected from the raw magic, have undergone a greater surge in power and have become more savage than before. Golbez has become aware of this and plans to use this to his advantage. I was told that Golbez is planning to steal the underground crystals as well, and hopes to keep anyone who might challenge him, distracted or out of the way completely. More monsters from the tower will be descending here and we will need to deal with them swiftly and efficiently. There’s no real way of knowing whether or not Golbez has learned where our realm resides, but we cannot spend all of our energy fighting off his minions.”

            “What are you saying?” Ifrit’s gruff voice interrupted.

            “Don’t do anything unnecessary. Don’t waste your strength. He might be planning to exhaust us until we are weak or spread out enough to be vulnerable,” Fenrir explained.

            “Then send just me out and I’ll take care of it. Leave these others to sit around at home until they’re needed,” Ifrit offered.

            Shiva’s look was icy. Rydia wondered if she’d actually cast a spell, her eyes were so cold.

            “Your element is fire, Ifrit. What if you came across an enemy of your own element? Then what would you do?” Shiva asked.

            “I certainly wouldn’t need to cry out for any help from you, princess,” he replied glibly.

            “Is that so? And stop calling me princess, Ifrit, or I’ll freeze you where you’re sitting.”

            Ramuh began chuckling quietly and Fenrir wrinkled his wolf brow.

            “Please, we’ve no time for that.”

            “Fenrir’s right, we should form a strategy,” spoke the suit of armor.

            “Thank you, Alexander,” Fenrir replied. “Rydia and her company have gone out frequently these last four months. You’ve engaged dozens of intruders and have held the grounds of the caverns very well, but I have to wonder if you truly need all of your members. It seems as though you have more people than you need. Perhaps it would be better if you were divided amongst yourselves in order to send out only as many as needed. Those who do not go can stand guard within the city. Groups of two should be enough. The other groups are doing the same.”

            “Who will go with whom?” Ramuh spoke up.

            “I think it’s safe to say that Shiva and Ifrit cannot be in the same group. Are there any preferences?”

            “I will go with Ifrit,” Ramuh offered.

            Fenrir nodded while Ifrit made a sour expression.

            “I will go with Siren,” Alexander said.

            “I think it’s only right that Shiva should accompany Rydia since they are student and teacher,” Fenrir added. “So, Black, who will you join?”

            For the first time, Rydia took note of Black’s presence. His eyes were dark.

            “I’ll go with Titan.”

            “Very well. For the next patrols, send only two out, and keep the other two in reserve. Switch every other patrol.”

            “Fenrir, I have to ask, but who told you about what Golbez was planning?” Ramuh asked.

            Fenrir was silent a moment. “I have made a contact within the tower, a human.”

            “How do you know this human can be trusted?” Shiva inquired.

            “She can be trusted. She’s been in the tower for a while now and she’s heard things.”

            “A prisoner?”

            “She didn’t say, but she didn’t seem pleased with her situation. She wanted to warn us.”

            “I hope she wasn’t lying,” Shiva remarked.

            “Her information is reliable. She knows the monsters of that tower better than most.”

            “I think I’d prefer not to know why that is,” Shiva said warily.

            “Now then, everything’s settled. This meeting is now over,” Fenrir stated, looking at each of the gathered summons individually.

            Ifrit immediately stood to leave and a few of the others did as well. Shiva however, stayed where she was and looked at Ramuh to get his attention.

            “Ramuh, you and I have some things to discuss. I also want to let you know what to expect of being grouped with Ifrit.”

            “I know perfectly well what to expect from that volcano of a man. There’s a reason why _I_ of all people chose to go with him. I’m the only one with enough patience to tolerate him.”

            A small smile quirked the corners of Shiva’s mouth. “So you’re still playing your tricks, old man.”




            “That wasn’t all I needed to speak to you about. Come with me, I’ll speak to you at my house.”

            Rydia watched them all leave and espied Black still seated near the table. He hopped down and prepared to follow Shiva and Ramuh, but Rydia stopped him.

            “Black, about what happened…”

            “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” he quipped.

            “Are you just going to ignore me from now on, is that it?”

            “I have to sort some things out in my head,” he replied. “You should go to bed, by the way. It’s late.”

            He trotted out of the room, and Rydia stood where she was with her arms folded.

            _Why now?_ She seethed.

 

………………………………

 

            She wanted to wring his furry little neck. This had gone on long enough. Too many months they’d already wasted on this argument. There was nothing she could do about growing up and changing. What was she supposed to do, cast stop on herself and remain trapped that way? Now of all times, she needed his support the most, not his criticism.

            She threw the door open to her home and slammed it shut again. Maybe this new arranging of team members would give them some breathing room. Maybe they’d just spent too much time together.

            Rydia laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Maybe that was all they needed, some time apart. Some time to figure things out on their own. She hoped that was the case as she closed her eyes…

 

…………………………

 

 

            She tried to sleep, she wanted to, but as the night wore on, Rydia found that she couldn’t. She had a bad feeling in her gut that something was about to happen. She turned from side to side, worries coming to the surface of her thoughts.

She tried to push the worries aside, to remind herself that she’d had no visions or dreams lately, and so there couldn’t be anything truly wrong; but no matter what she did, the nagging of her conscience did not abate. After another hour of tossing and turning, she threw off her covers and walked to her door.

            She barely registered that she’d crossed the room and was considering going walking in her night clothes, but there she stood, simply staring at it, sensing that something was definitely wrong on the other side. There was a pressure in the air, a heaviness. It almost felt as though there were too many people in a small enclosed space.  

            She finally opened the door and peered out. The night landscape of the Summoned Land greeted her eyes. Lamps glowed brightly at corners of walkways and the air was cool. Nothing looked incongruous, but she could feel it still. Something that was out of place.

            She walked a few steps more before thinking better of her current situation and returned inside to equip herself with a dagger and her wool cloak.

            She felt like some sort of animal, stalking the streets at night by herself. Once again the thrill of being out on her own excited and frightened her. Shiva would certainly scold her if she saw what Rydia was up to, but this wasn’t some late-night adventure. This was an honest investigation.

            She walked past the few shops with wares and the library also, and stepped onto the portal to the next part of the city.

            The moment she reached the other side she saw it—the evidence of her suspicions. Several lamps were blackened, something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Darkness spanned many of the streets and there was a presence of strong magic that pricked her skin. Something was out there.

            She knew that to find answers she had to move forward, but her feet were frozen in place. The fear of what was unseen overwhelmed her. She stared into the inky night, where the glow of the other lamps didn’t reach, and imagined terrible things waiting there.

            It took her a few minutes to realize that she was no longer imagining things, but that she had, in fact, seen something move. It was cold and indistinct, and glowed faintly. Rydia felt a chill wind sweep past her and saw a sparkling of blue amid the black. It grew larger and brighter by the minute and Rydia’s heart began to beat faster. If it was a summon, surely they would have announced their name by now.

            She could only stare at it, unable to move. While she watched, another light became visible. This one was red and glowed like embers in a fire.

            Finally, she forced her legs to obey and walked farther from the portal and closer to the illuminated stretches of road. She could hear footsteps now, heavy and plodding. The blue shape crept closer to the light and out of the shadows.

            At first all Rydia could see was a long leg that appeared to be wrapped in a cold mist, but then she saw a snout and icy eyes. It had the appearance of a wolf, tall and burly, and wrapped in what appeared to be blue flames. Its eyes fixed her in their gaze and she felt her blood run cold.

            She wasn’t sure when it happened, but her body was moving, running past homes and other buildings, with a fira spell on her lips. She didn’t have to turn to know she was being chased. She could hear the monster breathing, lunging after her. She uttered the last word of the incantation and spun to set it on her target. From her outstretched hand came the power she’d summoned, aimed directly for the wolf creature’s path. Fire blazed where she’d commanded it to and the creature snarled and snapped as flames danced across its icy hide. In the instant she’d turned to release her spell, she discovered that she hadn’t been followed by only one creature but by two. There was a second wolf, one made of fire, and Rydia felt a quick bout of panic. How was she going to release a blizzara spell so quickly? She turned to run again, but stumbled over her own foot and fell to the ground. In her hurry, she tried to scramble to her feet or to grab her weapon, but a sheet of ice spread across the wooden planks in an instant and encased her arm. The attack had come so fast that Rydia barely knew what had hit her until she was pinned to the ground. Trapped there, helpless, she watched as the second wolf, the one made of fire, advanced and opened its fearsome maw. Rydia clenched her eyes shut and flattened herself ever closer to the ground, preparing for the worst, and expecting searing pain. A jet of fire and heat erupted above her and it singed her skin and hair, but at the same time she also felt the ice around her arm warm and loosen its hold.

            It had missed? She opened one eye a crack, and saw that the fire attack had melted her icy prison. In a surge of relief, she pushed herself up and began to run as fast as she could. Her mind was racing, her body moving mechanically. She had to cast blizzara on the fire wolf and fira on the ice wolf. But if she missed, she’d only be wasting energy.

            Did she start yelling for help, or did she use her air for casting spells? She glanced back briefly to see which monster was closest. The fire wolf, uninjured, was in pursuit and the other lagged behind, favoring its burnt leg.

            Blizzara. She’d have to be quick. She’d have to cast the spell and gain distance, enough time to cast it twice. Words streamed off her tongue, faster and frenzied with her panic. She could feel the heat of the wolf behind her as it closed the distance between them. It was like running before a surge of hot air.

            Stop. Aim. Release. Again she called forth her power, driving ice straight into the heart of the fire beast. It reeled backwards, surprised, and sent a shower of sparks flying out sideways. She didn’t wait to see if it fell or not, she continued to run and immediately went into another incantation. She hoped one more was enough to kill it, if not, she knew she’d be in trouble.

            She hoped someone would wake up and help her. She hoped _anyone_ would help her. But for that matter, how had these monsters gotten inside the city in the first place? Hadn’t there been a guard posted?

            A wave or unease swept over Rydia again. Had they been killed? No. That couldn’t be. Her mind thought one thing, her mouth spoke another. She was about to release her second spell when a lash of flame caught her ankle and brought her down. The pain was intense, and Rydia’s eyes swelled with tears.

            _Focus, focus. Don’t lose focus._ She willed herself to be calm, to ignore the smell of burnt flesh and release the second spell. Ice swarmed the figure of the wolf and entirely devoured it. Rydia wondered if, for a split second, her spell had been amplified by being within the city’s spell or if it was desperation that had lent it more power. The wolf collapsed in a heap of smoldering fur and flesh, its life snuffed out.

            Rydia looked past its body to see the second wolf watching, waiting. It seemed wary now, not as eager to pursue. Rydia took the opportunity and began the fira incantation. She spoke the words at an unnecessarily high volume, hoping that someone would hear her and come out of their home. That, and partially to keep the wolf at bay.

            She released yet another spell, this time stirring up fire that leapt over, surrounded and consumed the icy coat of the wolf. It too fell to the ground steaming. Rydia practically fell over. She was exhausted from running and casting so many spells in sequence.

            Again worry came to her. Why were they in the city? How had it happened? Were there others?

            She finally took the time to look at her wounded leg. Her skin was blackened, and the parts that weren’t completely burnt were swollen and throbbing. She looked away, thinking that if she didn’t see it, it wasn’t there.

            The pain began to dull her other senses and while she sat there in agony on the ground, she began to hear faint noises in the distance and voices rising above the din of her racing heart.

            She could see summons leaving their homes slowly, confusion and outrage on their faces. They investigated the fallen monsters and the trail of ice and fire damage they’d left behind. Eventually, Rydia gathered enough of herself to stand. The pain in her leg was fierce and shot up her spine. Her arm was also beginning to hurt from the ice attack, but it was little in comparison.

            A few summons turned to look at her, but they were more concerned with the cause of the disturbance rather than its resolution, and many went running in the direction of the portal.

            Rydia began to walk, stumble really, back the way she’d come. She wondered if Shiva was awake. She wanted to speak to the ice summon desperately.

            As if in answer to her plea, Shiva appeared amid a group of baffled summons and stared at Rydia as if she were seeing a ghost.

            “What—did you?” Shiva stammered, looking at the fallen wolves and at Rydia’s burnt and frozen limbs.

            “Didn’t feel right. I went looking—they were down by the city’s entrance. Never saw the guard. Chased. I fought them,” Rydia explained, out of breath.

            “What were they?” Shiva asked.

            “Two wolves. One made of fire, the other of ice.”

            Shiva’s expression was both troubled and furious.

            “How could this have happened?” she demanded of no one. “You’ve been injured and—“

            “I’ll be all right,” Rydia interrupted. “I just hope there weren’t any others.”

            Rydia walked beside an agitated Shiva, and as they continued down the street, more summons began milling about.

            “To the entrance!” some were shouting.

            “There are more inside the city!” Rydia heard from other streets.

            “It seems we have a real mess on our hands,” Shiva muttered.

            “Shiva, what’s going on?” Ramuh asked, approaching from an intersecting path.

            “Intruders. We’re going to see what’s happened.”

            Ramuh fell into step beside Shiva and Rydia and looked briefly down at Rydia.

            “You’re injured!” he observed with concern in his voice.

            “Rydia was the first to realize that something was wrong. If she hadn’t raised such a ruckous, we’d all still be asleep,” Shiva supplied before Rydia could open her mouth.

            “I’ll be fine,” Rydia added wearily.

            Ramuh didn’t seem convinced as the three of them hurried down the road.

            Already, they could see spells being cast in the distance and they hurried all the faster.

            “Rydia, I want you to go back to your home and stay there. Lock the door,” Shiva instructed.

            “No!”

            Shiva looked at Rydia in surprise.

            “I’m not going to sit at home and wait for this to pass. I can still do something to help!”

            “Foolish…”

            “I want to help!”

            “Stay behind me, then, and don’t do anything too rash.”

            In truth, Rydia wondered if it might be better to just stay at home, but a part of her knew better. This is what she would face in real battle. There wasn’t any place to sit down and run to in those kinds of situations.

            She followed behind, trying to forget about the pain in her leg and keep up.

            Light cast by various spells started to illuminate the darkened portions of the city where the lamps had gone out. Rydia could see dozens of intruders standing in the roads far ahead. They were in various shapes and sizes, and there were several more wolves like the ones Rydia had previously faced. How had so many come at once?

            Ice and fire spells erupted through the streets. Every once in a while a lightning bolt would blaze a path of light across the darkness, and accompanying it came spells of water and wind.

            Shiva was running now, and Rydia struggled to keep up. Fenrir had also appeared in the chaos.

            “That source of information you have is truly reliable? Shiva snapped.

            Fenrir, despite his obvious shock, still remained composed under Shiva’s sharp words.

            “There was no way of knowing how many or at what time,” he answered. “We took precautions. It seems that the person we grossly underestimated was Golbez.”

            “We have to spread out. We don’t know how many of these creatures have already entered the city.”

            “I’ll take the western streets,” Fenrir offered and bounded off.

            “It’s no fault of Fenrir’s. You didn’t need to be so harsh,” Ramuh huffed afterward.

            “Nothing from that tower begets anything good. He should have known better.”

“Quick to jump to conclusions as always.”

            “It’s hard not to in a situation like this,” she replied with an edge still in her voice.

            Ramuh did not continue the argument and the three of them joined the lines of summons that had begun to counterattack the monsters that were continuing to enter the portal.

            Rydia peered past the people in front of her and caught glimpses of chimeras. There were also giants of men, misshapen and menacing, holding large wooden clubs. There were so many!

            In the space of a heartbeat, Shiva had already begun a series of ice attacks in many directions at once, while the others made themselves useful among the advancing enemies.

            For several minutes, Rydia saw there was nothing for her to do without getting trampled underfoot. Her physical abilities were weak, in that regard she would only be a nuisance and there wasn’t a monster in the area that didn’t have an opponent.

            But then she heard screams from farther into the city. There was a terrible roar and a crashing of stones. She turned to see a cloud of dust rise from within an area of houses. Were those children’s screams she’d heard?

            She ran off in that direction, hoping there was something she could do. Pain aside, there were children in danger and everyone else was preoccupied elsewhere.

            She sped around a corner and found herself face to face with three very large men holding clubs. They had smashed down several walls of a house and the occupants had nowhere to run. There were four children, Rydia had seem them before, and now they were paralyzed with fear. Thundara had worked on men before, she remembered, and she began the incantation immediately.

            Bolts of light fell from the sky and engulfed each of the men, or giants, whatever they were, but all of them stood unharmed. Rydia’s eyes widened as they turned their attentions toward her and not the house.

            Rydia’s only saving grace was that these monsters were slow. She went into a fira incantation, a blizzara—nothing worked. She considered a summon, but they were all busy in their own battles. She was alone. If she couldn’t stop these monsters, they would certainly kill the children. What else could she do?

            One of the monsters returned to the house and she could hear the frightened cries of the children inside. She made a split-second decision. Her dagger in hand, Rydia bolted forward, screaming with fury. She slashed at the creature’s arm, and having hoped for a successful hit, barely scratched its skin.

            With her wounded leg, she wasn’t able to find her balance quickly enough after her attack, and became the target for the heavy club still in the creature’s possession. It swung down with the force of a falling boulder. The air left Rydia’s lungs and knocked her backwards. She flew into a remaining wall and felt all the bones of her body rattle.

            _So strong_.

            Her vision blurred and she saw that the creature was poised for another strike, but before it could fall, the club, the creature, both of them were swept away by another attack. A towering shadow loomed in the street, and in the corner of Rydia’s sight, she witnessed it pick up each of the creatures and crush them within its hands. Once her eyes had cleared a little more she took a better look at who had rescued her.

            Titan. The giant had saved her yet again.

            “Are you alright?” his booming voice asked.

            She smiled weakly, tears of relief coming to her eyes. The children were safe, she was safe…

            “I’m—I’m…” she began, but never finished. She couldn’t move. Her ribs, her back, her arms. They ached with a pain she’d never felt before. The blackness crept back into her vision.

            “Titan…take care of…” was all she could say. The pain was too much, the exhaustion to great, and before she knew it, unconsciousness had taken her over.

 


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s strange that someone I knew passed away while writing this chapter…
> 
> This one’s for Ray.

 

 

            In unconsciousness, Rydia found a strange sense of peace. It was like a warm blanket pulled over her mind, keeping her snug and protected from everything outside of herself. Gone was the pain of her body and the fear of battle. In their place was this profound enveloping sleep.

She wondered what she would awaken to this time. Would she find herself in a world unlike the one she left, or would she find herself safe in bed?

Her mind thought only snatches of these things, calmly tracing circles through memories and dreams. She did not have the prescience to dwell on any one thought, and merely drifted from one to the next. Her body was like a stone, pinning her mind down in this strange, eerily peaceful state.    




Sounds and colors broke through first. Fragments of light splashed through her mind’s eye, mixing, blending, then flying apart again. She wasn’t sure how it happened, but without her permission she’d been pulled to a place far from where her physical body was anchored.

            The vision held her fast. She gasped, feeling pressure that threatened to tear her apart as she struggled against it.

The _power_.

It swept her up, flooded her mind, and kept her tumbling and tumbling. Never had she felt something like this before. Too much power. Not hers, but someone else’s, and it’s influence over her mind overwhelmed all of her senses. Her place of solitude and rest was shattered, replaced by this turmoil and uncertainty.

She could hear the crystals screaming, but they were hungry, so hungry. She felt their presence all around her, but nowhere at the same time. They were searching for more power to use, to add to their own, and she could sense their insatiable desire to be set loose. As if she had become one of them, she knew without fully understanding, that they had been granted the fuel they sought and their power began to surge. Each element blazed its unique color in her vision, each one resonating and calling forth something enormous.

 

As their power grew, they delved deeper into the reservoir of strength they had tapped into and took their fill. Their power raged, growing wild and uncontrollable, until even the heavens were roused.

            That’s when she saw him. That’s when she understood.

She had felt it all, the moment the spell had begun, and the calling upon the crystals’ powers. But now she saw it, and realization pierced through her like a sword. He was standing there alone—old and blinded by his rage, the words of an unknown spell, a forbidden spell, on his lips. He was weakening, he had extended the reach of his ability and his body was racked with pain. He was a conduit, not a conductor, and the magic had taken control of him completely.

            _Tellah._

            The name ran through her mind amid the smoke and confusion that his spell had created.

            _Tellah, what are you doing?_

            But the crystals drowned her out. Her voice was buried in their chorus of voices.

            _Quiet, child, he does what he must,_ they sang to her. _We must do as we are asked. We must stop the evil man. Your realm and this must not cross, you damage our strength._

            She stood there, as if she stood a hundred miles away, seeing but not hearing. She’d been shut out.

            Before her but far away, Tellah stood in a world of white—no opponents, no comrades, nothing but his own presence and that of the crystals’ power surging within him. He finished the long incantation and raised his hands. The spell flew out of him, his power and the crystals’ power combined, and it seemed as though the stars had all fallen from the sky, burning rocks crashing down at speeds almost too fast to see. They carved a path of flame in Rydia’s vision and she felt the heat lick at her skin and choke her nostrils. This was a spell to be reckoned with, greater than any she had ever known. She could feel it ripple across space and time, rattling down to her bones, yet still she watched.

He was falling.

The spell had taken everything from him, used his own flesh and blood for its completion and left him hollow. He fell to his knees, his eyes nearly vacant, staring upward in defeat. The stars were still falling, crashing all around, but they were slowing, lessening, and Tellah’s life was fading with them.

            _No!_ Rydia screamed into dead air. _Tellah, no!!!_ She sobbed, tears streaming down her face so freely that they made stinging rivers down her cheeks.    

            The world of white cracked and fell away and Tellah collapsed on a tiled floor, charred black from the heat. Before him, still standing, was Golbez clad in his coal armor. Not dead, but alive he stood, and Rydia’s grief consumed her.

            _Noooooooooo!!!_ She screamed—everything within her straining to get closer, to run to him, but she was held fast in this prison of the mind.

            _You can’t do this to me! You can’t show me this and tear me away!_ She hollered in anguish.

            _You can’t do this!_

            But the more she struggled, the farther away he was. She was being stripped from the vision, removed as conveniently as she’d arrived.

            Her mind began to still the closer to her real body she became. She didn’t want to go back to sleep. She wanted to wake up, wanted to go to Tellah and the others, but unconsciousness was calling to her, lulling her to be quiet, and before she could grasp onto anything, her world was swathed in darkness. 

 


	31. Chapter 31

“Rydia, can you hear me?”

            Somehow the words reached her; though they remained a distant, meaningless murmer.  

            “Rydia?”

            Someone nudged her shoulder. The touch felt alien, as if her shoulder belonged to someone else. A voice deep within her rebelled against this disturbance—wished to lull Rydia once again into a dreamless slumber—but her body longed for this contact, some lifeline to latch onto. By sheer force of will, her senses slowly began to regain their former clarity, and she felt herself return to reality. She was no longer unconscious, nor a ghost between realms—her body was her own, inert in bed.

            It took a moment for this realization to settle in, but when it did, she sat up with a gasp, gulping down air with avarice.

The lingering effects of magic and the shock of her experiences before and during her sleep collided painfully together and wracked her body with tremors. Magic streamed through her veins and through every sinew, a pulse, a current that didn’t belong. It practically hummed while it coursed through her, tingling up and down her arms, pooling at her fingertips. The feeling was so strange, that she barely felt the comforting hand that came to rest immediately on her back.

            “Rydia?”

            Rydia blinked furiously. One thing after another was surging through her mind. She tried to grasp everything at once while simultaneously trying to forget.

            “Rydia, are you all right?”

            Her thoughts waged war with each other. She couldn’t settle on any one thing, and Tellah—

            “Rydia!”         

Dazed, Rydia turned her head to see the person she least expected. Queen Asura was sitting beside her on a chair, watching her intently. More confusion wracked Rydia’s brain. None of these pieces fit. None of this made sense. Until suddenly, she remembered.   

            The intruders, the battle, the children, her injuries…

            “Your majesty, what—what happened?”

            Why was the queen studying her so closely?

“You were taken to me for healing. You’ve been sleeping for two days, but for several hours you’ve been yelling in your sleep.”

            “I’ve been—two days?”

            “Yes, and you don’t look any better for all the rest you’ve had.”

            Rydia took deep breaths. “It was…”

            “You don’t have to tell me anything right now if you don’t have the strength.”

            Tears welled up in Rydia’s eyes. “It really happened…”

            At the queen’s questioning expression, Rydia shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”

            Asura nodded and looked over her shoulder. For the first time, Rydia noticed that there were others in the room.

            Two worried faces gazed in her direction and stood up when they saw her awake and alert.

            “We were worried you might not wake,” Shiva expressed with true relief.

            “Rydia, are you sure you’re all right?” Black asked, looking up at her sheepishly from the floor.

            Rydia stretched her limbs and found everything working. “I’m fine…”

            “The city is safe for now, we chased away all of the invaders,” Black hastily explained. “Titan brought you to us shortly after the battle, but you wouldn’t wake even after all the magic spent on you.”

            “I was…” Rydia shook her head. “I don’t know what happened. I remember being struck, and I remember being in a deep sleep that I couldn’t wake up from, but…I saw things. I don’t understand what they meant, or if they really happened but…if they were true…” she hiccupped back a sob.

            “You spoke the name Tellah,” Asura supplied.

            Rydia’s brow furrowed at the mention of his name. “I saw him…I saw him…” she said, barely above a whisper.

            Asura glanced at Shiva and the two summons stepped back from the bed.

            “When you’re ready, come to me again,” the queen offered. “Until then, spend time on your recovery. We will be close by if you need us.”

            Rydia nodded feebly and stared at the sheets that pooled around her bent knees. “Thank you.”

            Shiva and Asura took their leave, but Black remained. He hopped up on the chair that the queen had occupied minutes earlier and put one paw on the bed.

            “I’m sorry.”

            Rydia glanced at him through tears. “For what?”

            “For the things I’ve said.”

            “When you weren’t waking up, even after all of Asura’s care, I thought I’d never have the chance to tell you that I didn’t mean most of what I said.”

            “Most?”

            He looked away. “You’ve still changed, but I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

            Rydia nodded wordlessly. She was relieved to have him back, even if his idea of an apology was pathetic at best. The fact that he and Shiva had stayed with her until she awakened brought a little warmth to her heart.

            “Thank you, Black.”

            They sat together in silence, keeping each other company, until Black spoke again.

            “Rydia…Tellah was the sage you traveled with for a while, wasn’t he? What—what happened?”

            Tears poured from her eyes

            “I don’t know. But it feels like he’s missing. Gone.”

            “He’s—”

            Rydia ardently shook her head. “I don’t want to consider that. I’m still hoping I was wrong. I _have_ to be wrong.”

            “You had a vision?”

            “He was casting a spell. Black, it was terrible. The crystals were wild and Tellah, he—finished casting the spell and there was nothing but star-fire and smoke. By the time it cleared, Golbez was still standing. Black, not even that much power could stop him!”

            “Star-fire…Rydia, the spell he cast…”

            “I don’t know what it was!” she yelled. “I don’t know why he let it consume him, and I don’t know why the spell didn’t work!”

            Tears streamed freely down her face, and grief surfaced anew.

            “Maybe it was another nightmare like the other time,” Black suggested, trying anything to stop her tears.

            Rydia shook her head. “I want to think so, but everything within me says it’s not true.”

            “I’m sure that—”

            “Black, I don’t want to talk about this now. I’m sorry, but I haven’t come to terms with any of it.”

            His words slipped away to nothing, and the two of them once again sat in silence for a time. Rydia’s thoughts were still swirling in desperate agony. She knew a way to find out for sure if her vision had been true, but there was no guarantee of its success, especially with her inexperience.

            At length, Rydia threw her blankets aside and slid off of her bed.

            The wooden floor was cool beneath her bare feet as she padded to the door.

            “Where are you going?” Black asked as she stared out into the glaring sunlight.

            “I need to think. I know you have a lot of questions, but I have to figure some things out on my own.”

            She could sense his eyes on her back, imploring, insistent that she not disappear again, but she couldn’t explain this to him. There was one more thing she wanted to try before she gave up on Tellah, something she didn’t even want to bring before the queen.

            As she walked through the streets, oblivious to her own appearance and that of her surroundings, her mind focused on a few things—where Tellah had last been and why Cecil was absent.

            She slipped through the wall of magic that led to her mother’s garden and inhaled its deliciously fresh scent.

            When was the last time she’d been here?

            Now more than ever, she could almost feel her mother’s arms wrapped around her, protecting her.

            The ground practically hummed with life and Rydia knew it was here that she’d rather wake up from her nightmare.

            She chose a large white rock as her perch and sat down on it with her legs crossed and her hands resting firmly on her knees.

            The light from the pond’s reflection flitted across her face as she closed her eyes, watching the shapes of light through her eyelids as they stirred and shifted. They became her background, the focus of her attentions, as she exhaled slowly.

            She allowed everything to become awash. Her thoughts flew far away to places beyond the Summoned Land. She drew on what she knew; focused on familiar haunts and experiences until the images took over her mind.

            _Now show me the present,_ Rydia directed her thoughts. _Show me the unknown._

            For a moment there was stillness, consuming everything she’d tried so hard to conjur, until it shook, a few snatches of other images peeking around the corner of her mind’s eye—peripheral impressions of things she couldn’t yet see.

            She was anxious to view them, but eagerness caused them to dissipate and flicker like skittish creatures.

            She calmed again, inviting the images to return. She waited until they centered and sharpened in focus before she gazed.

            The tower was there, tall, with its colors of gray, black, and veins silver. It was mechanical but strangely organic, climbing high into the sky.

            Her sight flew from the ground up, like a hawk slicing through the air in the wrong direction.

            Higher and higher she flew, through mist and clouds, stopping at an off-shoot of the tower—a pinnacle—before turning inward; through corridors, stairs, and narrow passages until the amount of turns made her dizzy.

            Lights buzzed and blinked, becoming more distinct the higher in the tower she went. As her ascent steepened, so too did evidence of battle and bloodshed. Red droplets were spattered on the polished floors, scorches from flames, and weapons. The trail of death and disorder led further upward, up one more flight of stairs. Rydia nearly lost her concentration, choked with fear, anticipation, and dread, but willed to see the rest. She wanted to know for sure.

            The final staircase loomed before her and without touching the steps, her form glided up them like a specter.

            She felt like she was looking at this space through water, the way it warped and bent around her. The damage done to this portion of the tower was extreme, and the dome of the ceiling was shattered leaving only a skeletal frame behind. The tiles of the floor were powdered and the floor beneath was visible.

            Where were they?

            She advanced to a place on the floor where the chaos of destruction hadn’t reached. It was still intact, an un-scorched space. She found him there, lying peacefully amidst the turmoil of his spell, an island.

            His face was pale, his features drawn and sallow, but peaceful in death.

            She drew her hand to her lips, pressing back the anguish that threatened to escape.

            Everything around her once again took on the appearance of a watery cloak. Were these real tears she was seeing?

            She approached his fallen body and knelt down beside him, taking his cool hand in her own. It surprised her, being able to touch him in her present form. He was so cold, the skin of his palm leathery and soft.

            He was gone.

            She closed her eyes, wishing to be seeing anything but this, but here he was. All of their travels together—everything they had been through was gone; and he, left alone in this strange place as his tomb.

Rydia looked again at his face, how serene it was, and her heart broke. Cries came from her lips so violently, it was as if she hadn’t wept in years. Thoughts of everything else were gone from her mind. She couldn’t calm herself enough to even consider what had happened to the others. Before this moment, she hadn’t even believed she could achieve a vision of this clarity, let alone dared to think that her dream had been true. This was all a cruel joke being played on her by her mind. Golbez could not have survived such a powerful spell, and Tellah could not have perished so easily. Anger and sadness played with her thoughts, but as she continued to sit by Tellah’s side, slowly sense returned to her, and her emotions quieted. This was what he had wanted. Revenge. It was the goal of his quest since the very beginning and she’d known all along. Perhaps it was anger she felt toward him, for allowing himself to die, but he had been her mentor, a friend. He didn’t deserve this.

She had only barely managed to stave off her grief before she was forced to realize something else. The walls of the tower were beginning to shake. Dust filtered down from what was left of the ceiling and the remaining tiles began to rattle. The tower was collapsing.

            Panic gripped her heart anew. What about Tellah? Was this all the burial he was due?

            What about herself? She’d never been in this situation before, and had no idea how to return to her physical body.

            The longer she delayed, the worse the tower’s convulsions became. It was beginning to fall around her, the floor crumbling in its frame. Pressure surrounded her on all sides, magically bombarding her, prickling at her essence.

            There wasn’t time to think, time to act. The floor beneath her shattered, and she began to fall, pulled downward by the tower. Tellah was left behind, and she fell away from him, unable to do anything but watch the falling structure engulf her.

            Her priorities instantly shifted. It _hurt,_ but she’d never gone so far in a vision nor had she ever ended one on her own. She tried scattering her thoughts, dividing her attention to tear herself away, but nothing worked.

            Faster and faster the floors collided together, and she went with them.

            She closed her eyes and braced for impact. She wasn’t sure how she was able to interact with her surroundings so well, but it frightened her enormously.

            The wind, the gravity, the—

            And then it stopped. Cautiously, Rydia opened her eyes. The space had changed and she sat on a slope of long grass, an olive citrus color. The tower stood some distance away but still majestic in its scale.

            Rydia jumped to her feet, watching it. Debris was falling through the sky and she watched the pieces, slowly descending through space toward the immense blackness below. She had come so close to the same fate, but how had she been spared?

            “This fixation you have with death might someday lead to your own.”

            The voice spoke with a crisp matter-of-factness that Rydia found familiar.

            She faced the queen with a mix of emotions too numerous to count.

            “I wanted to know the truth.”

            “You already knew the truth. He perished by his own spell. The entire world shook with its casting--no one with any sensitivity to magic would have missed such an event nor its consequences.”

            “I’ve had dreams that have misled me in the past.”

            “Not with the crystals directly involved.”

            Rydia’s breaths hitched in her throat. The queen merely stood there, her long brown hair flying in the breeze, and a stern, but concerned expression on her face. “Was I really in danger?”

            “You wished to see the tower, a place of incredible magics. When you asked to see it, you separated the spirit from your body and your spirit was anchored to the tower. When it fell, you went with it. It took a great deal of my skill to separate you and bring you here.”

            Rydia wasn’t sure of what to say. “I’m sorry. I just…wanted proof.”

            “And what have you gained? A greater sense of loss? Have you learned anything of use that will help you in your journey?”

            Those words stung. It was true, she hadn’t found out anything more than Tellah’s death. Nothing of use. Nothing about Cecil and the others.

            “I thought that finding Tellah would lead me to the others…but they weren’t there. They were gone.”

            “Let me tell you something. It’s best to find your answers among the living rather than the dead. Had you searched for your other companions, you would have found them very much alive and in the company of a woman with golden hair. Instead, you asked the wrong question. Your essence was nearly pulled apart, and for what? A dead man? I would have told you this, had you asked. Had you but come to me.”

            Rydia returned her attention to the tower. It was so far away but so distinct. The crisp wind that crept up the mountainside buffeted her. The physical presence of this place nearly fooled her into thinking she was truly there.

            As if reading her thoughts, the queen answered the question on Rydia’s mind. “You’re able to interact with this place because you have almost completely separated yourself into two entities. You should return to your body. It’s dangerous to remain as you are.”

            “How am I supposed to do that?”

            “Concentrate. Reverse your thoughts; trace them backwards to where you began. Focus your thoughts on the last place you were, physically, and then, to your body.”

            “But how did you know—” Rydia began, only to find the queen absent from her side.

            It was time to end this, she knew. She’d been foolish for trying something so bold without the queen’s help in the first place. She once again closed her eyes and concentrated, retracing mental steps and steeling herself for the reprimand waiting for her on the other side.

            Rydia ceased seeing the tower. The citron grass of the mountainside faded to nothing, as gradually, a stream of images retreated across her mind’s eye. Villages, obscure faces, forests and deserts and flew past, until finally her surroundings appeared very familiar. A pond with a green haired girl sitting beside it, her face scrunched in concentration. She stared at herself for only a moment, and then flew into her body, feeling the unusual sensation of two of her becoming one, the weight of her body returning like a burden.

            Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around, waiting for the reality of her physical form to return. She felt like she was stuck in some slow, heavy substance. Everything was delayed, every action, every reaction.

            The strangeness eventually faded, the beating of her heart once more a natural rhythm, and she once again thought about what she had seen in her journey. Tellah truly was dead. Her dream hadn’t lied. But what had the queen said? That Cecil was alive? How? How did they escape when Golbez was still alive?

            If she had told her mind to find Cecil instead, she might have had her answer. Instead, she was left with a pit of sadness in her heart, and a feeling of inadequacy.

            It was difficult to accept that she still wasn’t ready for the fight ahead. Her experiment proved that she was still inexperienced and a danger to herself. How could she press on where Tellah had failed with his many years of knowledge and training? Cecil and the others had the fight of their lives waiting for them, but she had nearly perished trying to use a spell—one spell. How could she help?

            When she looked at the other side of the pond, golden eyes watched her languidly.

            She hadn’t expected to find Black waiting for her, but the words spilled from her mouth before she could stop them. “It’s no use, Black. I can’t help them. If Tellah couldn’t survive, I don’t see how I can.”

            “I won’t pretend not to know what you were doing just now, but if you’re convinced that nothing matters, why did you fight to help those children? Why have you bled and been bruised to protect others? Why have you spent all of these years studying until your eyes burned and your back ached?”

            Rydia thought back to all of her experiences thus far. She could see the road she had traveled clearly, all the trials and frustrations, but successes as well. Black circled the pond to stand near her, and she struggled to piece her thoughts together.

            “A lot of good that did Tellah,” she answered wryly.

            “You don’t look like an old man bent on revenge to me,” he replied.

            “He cast Meteo, Black. He failed.”

            “You’re _not him_.”

            His last statement contained such bite, Rydia held her tongue. Indignation and gratitude were both poised there—indignation for being contradicted, and gratitude that he thought so much of her abilities.

            “Why do you always have these things to say to me?”

            “Because they’re true. Because you need to hear them. Humans are silly creatures, they underestimate their abilities and use poor models to measure their successes and failures. I’ve already told you once today that I’m your friend, and I will do whatever is in my power to help you succeed. But I can do nothing if you will not.”

            Rydia stood up shakily.

            “What more can I do that hasn’t been done already?”

            “Fight on your own terms for your own reasons, the same you’ve been doing for all these years. It’s all anyone really can do.”

            Rydia wiped her eyes of tears.

            “I’m still not ready.”

            “You’re almost where you need to be. After that, there will certainly be challenges, things you won’t expect, but that’s the nature of life. Prepare as much as you can, and have faith for all the rest.”

            “I just—I don’t understand why Tellah didn’t succeed.”

            “In whose estimation? You only saw his death, but did the others survive? Did some good come of his actions?”

            “But Golbez is still alive!”

            “He had more of a desire to survive.”

            Rydia cast him a sharp glance. “What do you mean?”

            “Golbez refused to die, as Tellah longed for death through revenge. It was an unmatched battle from the start. No matter how much raw power the old man could draw upon, a conflicted mind can only cause problems.”

            Rydia reflected on that for a while.

            “Why didn’t you just ask the queen?” Black asked after her pause.

            “It’s complicated.”

            Black shook his head wearily.

            “Rydia, you should talk to the queen. She might be able to tell you more….about what you saw….and about the attack.”

            “She’s angry with me.”

            “Why?”

            “She had to save me from the tower when it crumbled. She pulled my essence away from it, because I was powerless to do it myself.”

            “So you really did succeed? You were able to confirm your dream?”

            “Too well,” Rydia confessed.

            Black looked at her shrewdly for a moment. “Speak to the queen. I know this subject bothers you, but she would be the person to ask.”

            “I know…it’s just…this is personal.” Rydia paused again, but then straightened suddenly as realization struck her.

            “What is it?” Black pressed.

            “The queen! She said something else! Cecil was with a woman with golden hair! Rosa’s still alive, and she’s with Cecil!”

            Everything else paled in comparison to this revelation. She was able to push aside her grief for Tellah, and realize just how blind she’d been.

            She ran from the garden at full speed, with Black trailing after her. If there was anything good to have come of all this, as Black had said, this was most certainly it!


	32. Chapter 32

            Wood planked roads riddled with scorch marks quickly passed beneath her feet. She approached the library at a dead run and briefly reflected that she was far too familiar with this journey for her own good. She was terrified to descend the stairs and hear the rest of what the queen had to say, but she also had reason enough to crash through the doors and ask as many questions as one breath would allow. Rosa was alive! How had she missed it?

            Her grief at Tellah’s passing still left a knot in her stomach, but so too did not knowing more of her other companions—they lived! They were all almost reunited again! She wanted more, she wanted to know what the queen knew. Where were they now? What were they doing? Had they come up with a strategy? How had they escaped the tower?

            But when she reached the wooden door, it stood impassive before her. Her hand wavered at the handle. Fear warred with excitement, but surely, this was what she had practiced with her gift for so long to find out. She had to go inside, no matter how sharp the queen’s words might be. Black waited patiently behind her, prodding her to move forward.

            She finally pulled at the handle and stepped within the library’s haze, walking out of habit to the throne room. While she descended the stairs, she eyed Black while he walked beside her.

            “How did you know, Black?”

            “What?”

            “How did you know what I was doing when you came to find me? Did Asura tell you?”

            “I’m not blind, Rydia. Do you think it was that hard for me to figure it out?”

            “I just thought…I thought the queen would have been the one to speak to me when I returned, not you.”

            “I know you better than she does.”

            Rydia gave him one final measured look before reaching the throne room doors.

            “It was just intuition?”

            “I was worried. We all were. When I saw how determined you were to find out the truth, I knew you’d try something on your own.”

            “She asked you to watch me, didn’t she.”

            “She didn’t have to,” he answered, looking back at her in earnest.

            Rydia contented herself with his answer, and opened the final door.

            An unexpected pair of faces turned to meet her. Titan was one of them, dwarfing the queen in his shadow.

            “So you did come”, the queen spoke, stepping around the giant, her voice lacking the expected anger.

            Rydia wondered if this was the calm before the storm.

            “I’m sorry—I should have asked you before I tried what I did,” she said quickly, apologetically.

            “In all honesty, child, I’m amazed you were able to do anything at all. Are you all right?”

            At Rydia’s affirmative nod, the queen crossed her arms.

            “I didn’t teach you how to focus your gift for you to use it recklessly in this manner. It’s dangerous. Do you understand?”

            “How did you find me; how did you even know where to look?”

            “I have eyes in a number of places, you should know that. Besides, your intrusion into the plains of the sight sent ripples of magic through the dimensions. You were hard to miss.”

             The lump in Rydia’s throat this time was not grief, but contrition. Through the dimensions? What else could she have done?

            “Furthermore, this was exactly what I feared you’d do. Perform untried experiments with magic in an insane effort to find personal answers. Do you still not trust me, summoner? Do you not trust my methods, that you believed you could defy me and confirm what your dreams had already shown you while you were unconscious? Foolish. I might also add that your prior injuries were caused by recklessness when you found it necessary to wander defenselessly about the streets at night even after strict instructions were given to stay in your home.”

            Rydia winced. This was the Asura she was most accustomed to. She glanced timidly at the queen, waiting for the next assault, but instead froze with shock. Rather than fury, the queen’s lips quirked up into a smile. 

            “You’ve an absurd sort of courage, Rydia of Mist. I should have known there was no stopping you.”

            Titan bowed his head and added, “Indeed, if it weren’t for you, no one would have known of the enemy attack before it was too late. I must personally thank you.”

            Rydia was too baffled to speak.

            “We were going to speak to you after you had recovered more fully, but it seems you’ve intervened with the order of things,” the queen carried on, then amended with, “as usual.”

            “I don’t understand. Speak to me about what?”

            “You fought to protect the city alone and armed with little. Such actions do not go unnoticed.”

            “But I thought you were angry,” Rydia objected.

            “Angry, not entirely. Surprised, yes,” the queen admitted, the smile still upon her face. “However, it seems that I’ll never be able to get a word in edge-wise before you go running off to your own peril. Now that you are indeed here in both body _and_ spirit, I feel we can continue with what we had originally planned to tell you. Titan requested he be the first to meet with you.”

            Rydia looked from the queen to the giant, confused and expectant.

            “Rydia of Mist,” Titan began. “More than once, I have come to your aid in the face of great danger. Both times I came to your side when you fought alone, and only in your greatest need. I find I am drawn to your service, but I am sorry that I was unable to protect you in this last battle. I admire your desire to defend those around you, even against foes that outnumber and overwhelm you. You showed great courage, and I thought this an apt time to surrender my name to you. Summon me when the need arises, and I will not fail you again.”

            The formality was stifling. Rydia swayed a little, not sure if she was expected to give an equally eloquent speech. All she could manage was a half strangled “Thank you” while the giant dipped to one knee before her.

            Rydia’s eyes flitted back toward the queen who watched the proceedings quietly.

            “Thank you, Titan,” Asura announced. “You may now take your leave. I have further business to discuss with this young one.”

            “As you wish, your majesty,” Titan rumbled, placing a heavy hand on Rydia’s shoulder as he passed her on his way to the door.

            The queen watched him go, then returned her attention to the girl and the cat.

            “You’ve come with your shadow as well, I see,” Asura remarked, eyeing Black who was seated primly behind Rydia’s legs. “I suppose you may stay, Black. There’s no point in trying to separate the two of you.”

            Black lowered his head ostentatiously. “Thank you,” he purred.

            The queen nearly rolled her eyes.

            “Your majesty, I know I shouldn’t have tried to see the outside world on my own, but my last dream had been wrong, and this would have been too cruel to be the same. I had to know for sure what had happened to Tellah. I just…I lost sight of what was more important, and I almost died because of it.”

            “I can see you’ve learned your lesson. At least in part.”

            Rydia nodded mutely.

            “But that’s not why you are here,” Asura continued, seriousness returning to her tone. “Certainly, the circumstances of you successfully conjuring such a feat and separating yourself into two entities is worthy of consideration, but I have other news to deliver. Since you awakened, I too, gazed into the real world. Your friends live. The sage, Tellah, released the powerful magic meteo that momentarily broke Golbez’ resolve, and for a brief time, also revealed portions of the tower of Babil to me. In the short time available, I witnessed five persons fleeing the tower before its collapse. Cecil, the other man from Baron, the fighter from Fabul, a woman with golden hair, and the man with the mask of a dragon. They all survived.”

            “Five?” Rydia asked in disbelief. “The mask of a dragon…it can’t be.”

            “I cannot make assumptions, only view the evidence before me. Either your friends are being deceived, or an old enemy has been made a friend. How these events unfold is up to themselves now.”

            Rydia hugged herself fiercely. “But he…he’s the one who…he was the reason she was taken in the first place!” she shouted, trying to make sense of it all.

            “He may not be the same person. Only time will show us the truth of it.”

            “He helped destroy my village and fled! He disappeared!”

            “Calm yourself, child. This conversation has only just begun. I wanted to speak to you about the attack on this city. Golbez knows where we are. He sent spies ahead of him, and when we turned away for a moment, he struck. The guard we had posted was slain and that is how the invasion began. If you hadn’t intercepted the first wave of attackers, we wouldn’t have known until too much damage had already been caused. I thank you.”

            “I don’t remember much of what happened. How did it end?”

            “Shiva, Ifrit, and the others held their ground. The city was spared, and precious energy as well. After you were rendered unconscious, the rest of the invaders were thwarted, but not before damage was done to some sections of the city. We are reaching the point where drastic measures must be taken. Many of our resources are being diverted to keeping a greater watch of the area around the caves, as well as our portal.”

            “I’m sorry, but what does this have to do with me?”

            “The argument I first made for your being here, was that you were too valuable to risk losing. If you are lost, we are virtually powerless in the world beyond this city, and I refuse to sit by and simply defend this place until our time is spent. You have remarkable aptitude for the spells of your people; in fact, your skills have dramatically increased over the past year. As much as having you cut your teeth on the fiends of the caverns has been useful in your training, I’m afraid that now it has become too dangerous. Golbez’s arm grows long, and I have seen evidence of the danger in his future plans. Cecil and those who fight with him are the only forces moving who can disrupt Golbez’s plans. You will join them soon, but you are not quite ready, and I will not throw you at the mercy of Golbez before all of the pieces of our own plan are in place. You are to stay within this city, well away from the portal. We will improvise your training in…other ways.”

            “You’re placing more restrictions on me,” Rydia observed.

            “I am sorry to be telling you this news instead of saying that all was well, but the truth is, the Summoned Land is in more peril than it seems. If Golbez tries another attack, we may not be able to defeat his armies.”

            “What is Cecil planning next—do you know? Please, if there is anything you know, I’d like to know it too.”

            “They are coming,” the queen said simply.

            “They? Cecil?”

            “Four crystals of light, four crystals of dark. Golbez seeks the final crystals, and where Golbez goes, so does Cecil. I do not know if they will find the entrance to the underground, or how quickly they will manage to do so, but the time they spend searching is more time for Golbez to acquire whatever he can.”

            “Cecil is coming to the underground,” Rydia said, her excitement building. “He’ll be close to here? I can return to them?”

            “What may only take months for them, could still be years for you. You will have to wait and be patient…and out of harm’s way.”

            “I will try.”

            “Good. Now, you foolhardy young woman, you are dismissed. Black, if she tries anything as foolish as what she did earlier, you have permission to punish her however you deem fit. I’ve run out of the energy to do it myself.”

            “As you wish, your majesty,” Black replied smoothly.

            “And Rydia,” Asura called out as Rydia turned.

            “Yes, your majesty?”

            “Even though circumstances are dire, you have made another ally today. May you be fortunate enough to make more allies in the days ahead.”

            “Thank you,” Rydia murmured, as she crossed the threshold and left the room.

 

            When she had reached her small home again, she sat in one of her chairs and held her head in her hands. So much to take in. So much to think about. Cecil had found Rosa and the two of them were safe. But the dragon mask…why. Why of all people, had he joined them? What had she missed? Where was the missing piece?

            Black stretching out on her feet, made her look down.

            “You’re wondering why that man has rejoined Cecil, aren’t you,” he ventured.

            “All this time, all of the trouble he’s caused, and suddenly he returns to Cecil,” she admitted bitterly. “I don’t understand any of this, Black. There’s so much about what’s happened in the last few days that doesn’t make any sense to me at all. And Tellah…”

            “You know why he did what he did. Deep down, you do.”

            “He’s another person I’ve seen die, Black. Another person who’s died that I couldn’t help.”

            “The world is an unfair place, Rydia. There’s not much else I can tell you.”

            “I just feel so empty. I should be overjoyed that Rosa is safe. It’s been almost ten years for me since she was taken by Golbez. I’ve been waiting all this time wondering if she would be found, and instead of her, I find another friend dead along the way. I hate my visions! I wish I’d never gotten them in the first place!” she shouted angrily.

            She felt her anger flow out of her, tangled with her sadness, her hope, her excitement and her doubt. No one had ever told her that growing up would be so complicated, or that a person could hold so many emotions and thoughts inside of them. She felt she might burst with everything she felt right now, but there was a strange comfort with Black nearby. A reassurance that somehow things would be all right in the end.

            “Rydia, I don’t know if I said it earlier, but you have a spirit that won’t be crushed. If anyone can get through this, it’s you. I’ve seen it in your eyes, and your bravery speaks for itself. You won’t be stopped no matter what happens.

            Rydia propped her chin with an arm. “It’s not bravery,” she said quietly. “I’m not brave, not really. Just terrified of what will happen if I do nothing.”

            She felt Black shift at her feet and there was silence.

            “Black,” Rydia said hesitantly.

            “Hm,” he grunted.

            “She said I would be leaving soon.”

            “That’s what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it?”

            “I always thought so, but now I’m not so sure.”

            Black looked at her skeptically. “What?”

            “I don’t know if I can go back to the outer world. What if there isn’t a place there for me when I get there? What if I’ll only be a hindrance…”

            Sharp pain immediately shot up from her feet to her legs. “Ow!” she yelped in surprise. Her skin had been punctured in the neat pattern of paws. She clutched one foot in her hand and pressed a finger to one of the bleeding wounds.

            “What was that for!” she yelled, glaring at Black.

            He looked back at her balefully. “You deserved that, and don’t think for a minute that you didn’t.”

            “You were looking for pity! You have a chance to return to your own kind. You can live a life surrounded by new faces at every turn. Get a hold of yourself! Of course Cecil would welcome you back—would find you a valuable asset! Do I need to hit you over the head as well? Maybe I take what I said earlier back as well! If you’re so worried about not having a place in your world, make one! I didn’t help train a wimp, and if that’s how you’re going to act, I think you should find someone else to listen to you drown in your sorrows.”

            “A friend of mine just died, Black!” Rydia shouted back. “Can’t you at least understand that?”

            “People die everyday! This is a war, in case you haven’t noticed. You can mourn for him once every enemy has been taken care of. We’ve lost some of our own as well, and you don’t see me hiding and wondering ‘why me’.”

            “Black, I—”

            “You have responsibilities. You have a war to join, and you’re not going to be much good with your head between your legs looking down.”

            Rydia sucked in a breath for stability’s sake. “You’re a harsh friend, Black.”

            “Sometimes I have to be. Now. What are you going to do next?”

            It took her a while to compose herself before answering. “I’m going to finish my training, and then I’m going to finish this fight with Golbez.”

            “Good. Glad to see some sense has returned to that head of yours.”

            Rydia paused, then smiled faintly. “But you know something else, Black.”

            He flicked one ear back expectantly.

            “It worked.”

            “What worked?”

            “Trying to connect to the outer world. I did it. I was able to see what I wanted.”

            Black’s expression was dubious. “Just do me one favor. If you’re going to try that again, make sure you don’t go attaching yourself to strange towers or getting yourself nearly pulled into bottomless pits.”  

            Her smile faded. “No…I definitely won’t be trying _that_ again.”

            “Get some rest,” he advised. “You look like you need it.”

            “Everyone here…are they really all right? Do they need help around the city?”

            “We’ll be fine. We can take care of the rest.”

            “Thank you again, Black.”

            “Thank _you,_ ” he said in return. “Though, you know, there are times that I really don’t understand you.”

            Rydia laughed nervously. “Neither do I,” she confessed.

            “Sleep well. Don’t have any more dreams while I’m gone,” he said, walking to her door and stepping out into the light.

            _Oh please, let there not be any more dreams,_ Rydia prayed silently as she watched Black vanish into the daylight.  


	33. Chapter 33

_This is the night I walked the paths of the dead._

_This is the night I encountered the unknown_

_Where great mages have failed to tread,_

_There I walked till day knew light._

_……………………………………………………………_

            It was a strange place Rydia had awakened to the day after her experience in the tower. With a calmer spirit and a more level head, she was finally able to comprehend the damage that had been done to the city during the attack. Homes were charred; streets were warped, burnt, splintered, and torn apart, and a list of dead had already been prepared. There were days devoted to mourning, and rituals unknown to mankind since the day the gods left the world, brought back to life. Rydia watched it all in silence. Observing them, seeing what it meant to lay a Summon to rest, she realized that her troubles seemed so small in comparison. Their numbers were few, dwindling, even while the spell around the city just managed to sustain them. Thousands of years had passed within this spell, and several good people had been lost to wars, to carelessness, to weakness…possibly even to old age. But when a Summon died, there wasn’t someone to replace them, there was merely a hole where they had once been, and it could already be painfully felt among the survivors. Black and the queen had spared her the details until she was more herself, and after she had been made aware that they were grateful for her actions and had allowed her to rest, she was able to take in everything else, to understand the cost the attack had incurred.

In many of the Summons a fervent anger had developed. They wanted justice for their fallen, retribution against their attacker. They longingly looked at the city’s portal, just _wishing_ to cross the boundary and return to the human world, to carry out an attack of their own and bring the war out of their own lands. Rydia pitied them, able to feel, in part, their frustration.

Weeks had gone by since then, and during that time, she’d spent her energy helping the Summons rebuild their city. It was hard and tedious work, but she did her best without complaining. It amazed her how everyone came together and worked in unison, contributing to the best of their abilities. The tallest and strongest Summons carried supplies and laid the groundwork for repairs, the smaller, handled the lists and finer details of the tasks. During her time spent helping, she saw faces she’d never seen before, new people emerging from corners of the city that had never dared to before. Each of them regarded her with trust, acceptance, and even adoration. To many she had become a little sister, and to others, a companion. They were depending on her, they needed her. She knew it without having to ask.

            In those weeks she’d also kept her word to the queen that she wouldn’t attempt to use her gift to glean insight into the goings on outside the city. She recognized its danger now, and didn’t want to stir up more trouble with so much going on within the city itself. She needed to stay in control of her body and mind in case another attack approached. But somewhere in the depth of her mind, she couldn’t help but feel a pull on her to want to try again. No, not a pull, she conceded, but a call. Ever since that day…ever since she’d shed her body in the garden to search for her friends, she could feel something reaching out to her, could almost hear a voice calling out from a dark place. _Come for me_ , she thought it had said once. Always she thought she heard it during the twilight of dreaming and waking, but it was becoming more persistent and harder to ignore, like when her visions first began appearing to her without invitation.

            Even now between the pounding of wooden planks being set into place and the shouting of instructions, she could still hear it whispering around the corner of her thoughts. She worried that she was going mad, but she recognized the voice, knew it, even. _Who are you?_ She asked, only to receive a faint, “ _come for me”_ in response.

            “Rydia, can you help the children clear the pathway?” Siren asked, walking up from her work binding the newly laid planks with magic.

            Rydia started, casting her other thoughts aside, and nodded obediently, finding the group of Summoned children pulling at bits of damaged wood in an effort to pry them away so new planks could be put down.

            “Let me help you,” she offered, gripping one loose but heavy board off the ground and dragging it away to a pile of discarded materials. “Don’t lift things that are too heavy for you,” she advised, as the children ran about looking for new boards and scraps to pull away.

            It went on this way for several more days, morning till night, all the while Rydia finding that the voice tugging at her consciousness would not be ignored. Was it one of the crystals? No, she decided. Not that. This was different. It was desperate, alone and singling her out.

            _Where are you?_ She asked when she had a small break in her work.

            _I am here,_ it repeated.

            Rydia became more frustrated the more questions she asked. Was this a friend or foe? How did they know each other? What could she do for them?

            She continued to doggedly drag damaged wooden planks away from the sections awaiting repair, mulling things over, and continually tucking long locks of green hair behind her ears. It was startling to her how long her hair had grown, let alone how tall she had gotten. Standing next to Shiva, she measured to the woman’s ears, with her hair practically reaching down to her waist. The height she could live with, the hair had become a hindrance with her new set of jobs, and she considered cutting it by the time the day was done.

            _Come for me_ , the voice interrupted her thoughts again.

            _Quiet!_ Rydia snapped at it in her mind. First visions and now voices, what was next, reading people’s minds?

            She had meant to ask Asura about it when they’d spoken the few times in the last couple weeks, but the queen seemed to sense nothing, and Rydia didn’t think it would prove to be anything more than an annoyance and kept it to herself. What an annoyance it had turned out to be.

            She worked determinedly, trying to block out the voice, and finished the day’s labors when the sun was beginning to dip low in the false sky. She walked home amid a crowd of other summons. Much of the repairs had been finished, and several people were pleased with the progress. There was talk of a gathering in the heart of the city with Dwarven ale passed along from the Sylves long ago. “Strong as dragon’s breath, with the grip of one of Siren’s songs” the rumor was, and some of the Summons gladly ventured there after their work was finished. Rydia, on the other hand, preferred a quiet night at home. There were a few old journals she had come across, similar to the records she had discovered almost a year earlier, that she wanted to read and learn more from. Black was absent for the night, so she knew she could read them undisturbed. The closer to her house, the smaller the crowd around her became until she was the only figure walking along the road. The illusion of sunset had already descended to a deep purplish red, and the eerie street lights carried on poles blinked to life in a well-timed dance. 

            She was exhausted. Her arms were sore, her back ached, and her voice was raspy from giving instructions to younger summons and chanting spells for most of the day. A good meal, her warm bed and a book to fall asleep to, looked to be an excellent way to spend the night. But as she approached her home, she chanced to glance farther down the pathway. There was a peculiar quality to the shadows there, just out of reach of the lamplight. She stared at it for a moment longer. Was it moving? A fine mist spread out, just barely encroaching on the light of the pathway, but Rydia blinked and convinced herself it was just a trick of her eyes. It wasn’t anything. It couldn’t be anything. There were no portals to the outside world that anything could enter from. She was just being toyed with.

            _I am here._

            Rydia started, feeling an involuntary shiver crawl down her spine. She still stood at her doorway, one hand clutching the latch, the other poised to take any action necessary. The darkness, it had spoken. Why? Why her? Why now?

            The darkness shifted again, another tendril of dark mist slithering across the boards and slowly approaching where she stood.

            Rydia watched it, her heart starting to hammer against the inside of her chest.

            _I am here,_ it said again, the voice gaining volume and strength the closer it came.

            When it was within ten feet of her, Rydia yelped out, and flung herself into her house, slamming the door shut behind her. She picked up a chair, bracing it against the latch, and making sure the lock was secure, before falling to the floor, breathing heavily, and hoping that whatever was outside wasn’t real, just her imagination running wild. It was quiet for a few minutes, but Rydia was beginning to feel trapped. She stood up and started to light all of the candles she had in her house with the one lamp already lit. She placed them around the room and sat as close to the middle as she could. Stillness. And then:

            _I am here._

            Rydia threw her hands over her head. “This isn’t happening,” she told herself, trying to drown out everything else. “Not happening, not happening, not happening…”

            _I am here._

She whimpered with panic. Was the voice literally speaking through the mist or was it all in her head?

            _Go away, go away, go away,_ she prodded it with her mind. _I can’t help you, I just want to sleep._

            There was another pause.

            _I am here,_ it said, resignation beginning to creep into its tone. 




              She stood up and took hold of the book she had intended to read that night. She knew the name. It was the same as the book that had revealed some of the details of the void and how to reach it. She wondered at it. Was there any coincidence between this book and the mist trying to reach out to her? She shook her head. She’d had enough for one day. Tomorrow she was going to tell the queen what had happened, everything. She blew out a few candles and left a handful burning on her center table, stripping off her work clothes for her comfortable night shift. She had no illusions about sleeping in total darkness. She would fall asleep to the light of candles.

            Bundled in blankets and gazing imploringly at her candles, Rydia prayed for sleep. Even so, it took a few hours before her fear ebbed and exhaustion could complete its work. She fell asleep, oblivious to the fact that most of her candles had nearly expired their wicks…

 

……………………………………..

 

Her dreams were murky and strange that night. She was alone in the Summoned Land, standing in the arena where she had spent so many days training. She was clothed all in green, a tunic of jade falling just past her knees, cinched with a yellow belt. A whip was looped in the belt, and on her feet were boots high enough to join her tunic at the knees. Why was she so armed, she pondered. She walked for a while in the deserted streets of the city, trying to find a single soul, but was unable to locate anyone. Where was everyone…

            In her wanderings, she began to notice things. There were doors. Everywhere she looked there were doors. They were embedded into the walls of the spell, and each one had the same appearance. Each one was liquid black within a frame, no evidence of anything on the other side but an inky darkness.

            Rydia’s interest was peaked. She wanted to know where these doors led. Was that where everyone had gone?

            She walked along the edge of the city, studying each doorway until she came across one that was different from the others. A cool mist poured from the bottom, gently covering the boards in its passage. Rydia paused and stared at it. Mist coming from an empty doorway? She touched the inky surface that stood between her and the other side and watched it ripple at the contact. When it calmed, a strong gust of wind flew out of the doorway and chilled her face. She wanted to go through it. Something was waiting for her on the other side, and despite all rational thought, her feet began to move of their own accord. One step, two steps, and then she was through, being pulled through the black substance into a world not her own.

 

……………………………………………….

 

            When the candles burned themselves out and Rydia’s room was reduced to blackness, the voice renewed its call. _Come for me, come for me, I am here,_ it beckoned. If Rydia had been awake, she never would have done what she did next. She stepped out of her bed, in answer to the voice, and instinctively walked to the chest that contained her possessions and clothing. She withdrew one of the green training tunics Shiva had made for her, along with a pair of sturdy boots and a cloak of gray with forest green trim. When she was finished, completely oblivious to her actions, she dislodged the chair from the door latch, and stepped outside. The mist was still waiting for her, encouraging her, pulling her toward it.       Had anyone else been watching, they would have seen a sleep walker trudging into a deep shadow, fluid and permeable. It should have stopped her, there should have been an endless illusion of fields covered in night, but instead the barrier between the living space of the city and the magic of the spell gave way to no illusion at all and absorbed Rydia within it. She was gone in the dead of night. Caught in the throes of an illusionary world.   





	34. Chapter 34

Pure magic. Pure energy. It fizzled and popped near Rydia’s head, tingled her lungs, and brushed against her skin. It was warm and cool, swirling all around, comforting—menacing. She’d never experienced anything like it.

The unnerving transition from the doorway to the other side ended abruptly. Where before she had felt suspended from strings, now her weight was restored and she took a minute to observe her surroundings. A world of white? This had been hiding behind the doorway? She took a few steps forward and felt something cling to her skin in a fine sheen. This was all mist?

Another tentative step caused an eddy in the air. It coiled around her legs and arms, chilling her blood.

“Hello?” She called out. “Anyone?”

There was silence.

“Hello?” she tried again.

_I am here._

The voice again! Rydia looked around frantically, but saw no one.

“I don’t see you!” Rydia informed the mist, feeling foolish.

 _Here. I am here_ , it said again.

Now Rydia was addled. She reached out with her arms, wondering if there was some invisible person that she could touch if she tried. Still nothing. No one. _I’m going crazy_ Rydia told herself.

Several more steps proved nothing. She looked back the way she’d come and saw no doorway either. Everything was enveloped in the mist with no entrances, exits, or signs of life.

The air became restless and began to swirl again, toying with Rydia’s hair, sweeping past her legs.

 _I am here, I am here, I am here,_ it insisted.

Rydia looked around again, but this time concentrating hard. It was here? What was? All she saw was mist, lots of it with nowhere to go.

Realization abruptly dawned, and she pounded one fist into her other open palm at her discovery.

“I understand! You’re the mist!”

 _I am here,_ it responded with anxious excitement.

“But why are you here,” Rydia mused. “Are you trapped here?”

_Name, my name._

“Name? Mist?” Rydia ventured. It was as if a spell had been cast. The mist gusted together like a tornado, blasting wildly until it compressed into a small circular entity that glowed as if lit from within.

“Mist, is that you?” Rydia asked.

 _I am Mist_ it answered.

Rydia rocked back on her heels, surprised and confused. “But I’m dreaming. None of this is real, so what am I supposed to do? Is this a vision showing me where you are?”

_Not a dream._

“What? What do you mean this isn’t a dream. I’m asleep in bed,” Rydia assured it.

_Not a dream._

_Skies above,_ Rydia thought despairingly.

_The void is not kind to strangers. We must move._

The void! Everything in Rydia’s head reeled. “I don’t understand. How did I get here? I didn’t ask to see this, I shouldn’t be seeing this!”

_You didn’t ask. I did._

“You brought me here?” Rydia demanded.

_You’ve been here before. I merely called you back._

“I’ve never been here be—” she caught herself mid-sentence, thinking back to something familiar. “It _was_ here,” she murmured. “Where the crystals pulled me when…when Tellah… _this_ is the void?”

_We must move._

“Move where?”

_Come with me._

The entity that claimed to be Mist began to move away, but Rydia hesitated. She wanted to be in bed, snug and warm, without worrying about running for her life in a place that wasn’t supposed to exist. She looked once more over her shoulder and still couldn’t find the portal she’d used to enter this place. She was trapped with nothing to do but follow the Mist.

“Do you know a way out?” she queried.

_You must make your own way out._

Rydia swallowed hard at those words. _Great_ , she thought, _another challenge._

 _Come with me_ it repeated, and Rydia finally began to move her feet.

The entity of swirling mist began to move expertly across the white plain, Rydia not far behind. There were no discernable landmarks here, no way to gauge a point of origin or to determine distance already traveled.

Rydia kept close to the mist as it traced invisible pathways for what felt like miles. She wasn’t sure what to make of her incorporeal travel companion. It was Mist certainly, but not the Mist that she knew, especially not in form.

 _Raw elemental powers gone wild_ , Asura’s voice rang in her memory.

“That’s right,” Rydia said thoughtfully. “Nothing here is what it seems.”

 _This way_ , Mist guided, changing directions again.

“Do you know where you’re going?”

_Must complete the tasks._

Before Rydia could even ask, she noticed the first irregularity in the unmarred features of the Void. At first it only looked like a line, but as they got closer, it revealed itself to be a rod firmly planted into the ground. It’s appearance was familiar—ash in color, and, Rydia imagined, cool to the touch.

“This is the rod that Shiva gifted me,” she explained.

_A summon’s weapon._

“But why…” Rydia began, only to look up and see that the surroundings were starting to change. Red and orange smudged the horizon, drawing closer, drawn in like a storm cloud. Buildings rose up from the ground on either side of her, and smoke billowed past her feet, choking her nostrils and lungs. Her village stood all around her, exactly as she remembered it from the day it burned.

 

………………………………………..

 

Rydia was immediately frightened by what she saw. The void was no longer an innocuous space filled with endless white, it was the realm of nightmares. This was the last thing she wanted to see. Creatures made of flame swarmed all around her, burning roofs, burning walls, and everything else in their path. Voices laughed, and tears involuntarily came to Rydia’s eyes. Why couldn’t this have been a dream? She fell to her knees.

“Why this!” she cried, choking on the smoke.

She remained that way for a while, frozen with anguish and fear. But when the flames felt hot enough to scorch her skin, a sensation of cool suddenly washed over her.

Rydia opened one eye cautiously, waiting for fire that never came. Instead, the rod in the ground stood directly in front of her, emitting a cool breeze. There was a ring of ice protecting it, and Rydia as well so long as she remained within it.

“Mist, where are you!” she demanded, but received no answer. “Mist?”

The fire continued to burn around her unabated, but one thing appeared in the roiling smoke and flame. A stairway. This she didn’t remember from her village. The stairway led upwards to a pedestal within a colossal doorframe. Was this an escape?

She didn’t have much time to wait for an answer. Instead she clutched the ice rod in her hand and felt the frigid relief of its presence. She took a few steps toward the flames, and sure enough, the fire retreated at her passing. She sighed a breath of relief, but her relief didn’t last for long. The fire grew bolder the longer she stayed in one place, so she followed the only course open to her, and sprinted for the staircase.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, scaling the steps two at a time, three at a time. Once she reached the halfway point, the stairs had already become hot enough to burn through her boots, and the stairs behind her began to crumble from the heat and the strain. She tried to move faster, but the stairs were already breaking beneath her feet. Hands and feet struggling for purchase, Rydia threw herself upwards. She had to reach the doorway. But no! The flames had begun to lick the doorframe, spreading faster and faster.

Rydia reached the last few feet and launched herself to the top. She had no time to waste. The doorway, she had to get through it. But where was the other side? How was she supposed to get through? The pedestal stood directly in her path, and in its center was a circular hole, similar to a lock that required a key. What was that supposed to mean?

She remembered the way the ice rod had appeared to her in the first place, standing upright from the ground. Was it meant to be placed here as well? With the heat becoming unbearable, and her time running out, Rydia lodged the rod into the indentation and waited. A shockwave of cold erupted from the pedestal, extinguishing the fires and eating the smoke like evaporating vapor. The doorway behind the pedestal opened, then, engulfing Rydia in a bright flash of light.

She opened her eyes to find herself once more in the white plains. Mist was beside her, moving in agitated patterns.

“What was that?” Rydia breathed.

_The first test._

“The _first_?”

_We must continue._

Rydia watched Mist incredulously, but followed just the same, trying to regain her breath and shake her fear. How many more of these tests would there be?

She didn’t have to wait long for the answer. The air began to shimmer with frost and the ground crunched beneath her feet as if from a cold winter snow. Her breath left small clouds in the air, while the environs darkened to a silver-blue.   

 Rydia’s feet began to sting from the cold, and she looked down to see that the previous fires had left gaping holes in her boots. She shivered and hugged her chest with her arms, wishing she was wearing more clothing. Clothing? She looked at her arms again, noticing for the first time that she wasn’t wearing a nightgown like she’d thought. There were long trailing sleeves of green with golden trim at the edges. Her body was draped in a beautifully embroidered green tunic that fell to her knees, and there was a whip affixed to her belt. When had this happened?

“Mist, why is this happening? Why does the environment keep changing?” Rydia asked, looking around to see that Mist had once again left her to fend for herself. Why was that, she wondered.

The cave brought her thoughts back to the present with an icicle plummeting to the ground a few feet to her left. She jumped in surprise and glanced around. The white plains had morphed completely into a series of caves. There was a ceiling above her head and close passages meandering off in different directions. Which path was the correct one? She studied each passage, trying to decide, but as she stood in one place, the cold began to chill her entire body. She began to chant the fire spell, and tried to conjure a flame to warm herself, but as soon as she finished the incantation, the spell fizzled out into nothing. Rydia’s frustration increased. How was she supposed to keep warm? She started to walk down a path to the left, rubbing her arms. The cave twisted on for quite a distance, but Rydia still couldn’t understand what she was supposed to do here and why her magic didn’t work. Was there some skill she was supposed to perform? Was there another key to the puzzle that she had to find? She continued to walk while icicles fell around her and a cold breeze whipped through the cavern chambers.

At last she entered a large chamber lined with beautiful ice pillars that glistened like carved crystal. It didn’t look like it belonged to the cave, but rather, that it was a part of a palace long buried in snow. She remained close to the walls, afraid to step into the center just yet. Was this all there was? Was she trapped in these caves? She looked for some clue to accomplish the next task, but nothing immediately came to her. Her fingers were beginning to go numb, as were her toes, burning with cold rather than heat.

She resolved to continue walking. Something had to reveal itself if she kept looking, and the walking was bound to keep her warmer than standing in place. She looked at each pillar as she passed, admiring the beauty of each one, how perfect they were, how very much like a palace room this looked. There were pictures etched into the ice pillars too, she noticed. Representations of creatures—dragons, felines with wings, and others, but she didn’t know what these images meant. Nothing about how to get out of her current surroundings. When she’d walked around the entire room once, she looked at the center. The floor itself was covered in snow, except for one patch in the very center of the chamber where there appeared to be a pool of glass. Rydia walked toward it, and peered down, finding that it was ice, not glass that she was seeing. There was another portal beneath it, shimmering. Rydia pounded on the ice but it was too thick to break with her fists, and without her magic, there was no way to melt it. She pounded again and again to no avail, and finally sat backwards in defeat.

How was she going to reach it?

She sat that way for a while, shivering, until she felt a change in the air. It was the feeling that someone else was in the chamber, watching, waiting. Fear crawled over Rydia’s skin as she realized that the pillars were no longer standing at the sides of the wall. They were _changing_. She stood up in a hurry and saw that directly in front of her the image of the dragon had come to life as a creature made entirely of ice. All she could make of it was the outline while the rest remained almost entirely clear. Each of the other pillars had become the creatures etched into their sides, as claws and talons dug into the snow and began to advance. Rydia looked at each of them fearfully, discovering that she was completely surrounded with nowhere to go but through the portal that she couldn’t reach.

She had to break the ice, but how? Her mind frantically searched for solutions, but the creatures were drawing ever nearer and she didn’t have much time to act.

 _This is no time to panic_ she told herself. _Think. They’re made of ice._

Her hand went to her belt, brushing against the whip looped there. She felt it warm at her touch, and glanced down in surprise. Was this another of the Summons’ weapons? Sure enough, Ifrit’s fiery whip was at her side, smoldering against the leather of her belt.

She uncoiled it and jumped aside as a blast of freezing air was hurled at her from the dragon’s mouth. She hoped her reflexes remained sharp enough to do what she needed them to. She remembered her training with Shiva and Ifrit, how they had instructed her to hold the whip, how to slice it through the air and pull it back at just the right moment. Without a thought, just rehearsed movement, she sent the end of the whip flying through the air, flaming brilliantly and filling the room with a flash of orange. It carved through the front right leg of the dragon, melting it clean off. The dragon tilted to one side, off-balance, and let out a plaintive cry as well as another blast of icy breath. Rydia attacked again, aiming for the head this time, and melted that as well at the neck. The dragon’s body cracked and shattered, falling to the cavern floor in an explosion of water droplets. Feeling victorious, Rydia prepared to launch into an attack against the next foe, but a sudden pierce of cold took her backwards. It stole her breath and she staggered, looking to see a long curved talon embedded in her left shoulder. She gasped with pain and fell, feeling muscle and skin being torn as the talon was retracted from her shoulder. She blindly swung her whip, hurling it behind her with as much force as she could, eyes closed. Another puddle of water pooled near her feet as specks of blood began to stain the snow from her own wound. There were the other creatures too, all advancing, all prepared to tear her apart if she didn’t destroy them first. 

It was then that she looked up. There it was, the clue she’d been looking for. There was a large icicle hanging above the portal, large enough, and Rydia hoped, sharp enough to crack the ice beneath it. Would her whip reach? 

She stood up shakily and was about to extend her whip, when a massive concussion shook the ground and threw her off-balance. One of the other creatures had caught up with her and swung an enormous club into the ground. The entire cavern shook, and snow drifted down from the ceiling, sparkling on the air. She had to succeed in one strike.

With a gracefulness that shocked her, the whip arced through the air and the flames enveloping it scorched the icicle from its base. It melted halfway, then cracked loudly, falling straight down. It shattered the ice in the center of the floor beneath it, and opened a path to where the portal lay. Only now Rydia had to get past the creature to reach the portal and the pain in her shoulder and in her freezing limbs was slowing her movement considerably. She took a chance and ran for the hole in the floor, diving and flying head first through the portal.

It was like diving through water and a change in temperatures sent her body into shock. She hadn’t returned to the white plains like she had the last time, instead she was _under_ water. It was warm and agitated, and it took her a while to figure out which direction she was supposed to be swimming in. The wound in her shoulder blossomed with pain, and she opened her mouth under the water, taking down a gulp of water instead of air. She frantically paddled to the surface and threw herself out of the water, coughing and gasping. Her fingers and toes burned with sensation. Everything was wet both above and below the water. That’s when she realized it was raining, pouring down on her as a stain of crimson spread through the water from her wound.

She found herself treading water in a lake surrounded by trees that looked wild in the most possible sense. Gigantic leaves caught the water and channeled it off in great rivulets, while moss hung from every branch and limb like unruly clumps of hair. The sky was orange with flashes of lightning blazing across it, painting the sheets of falling water white and purple. Rydia began to worry. Water carried lightning like a current and she was caught in the middle of it. If she wasn’t quick, she would be struck.

She began to paddle toward the shore, jolts of panic spreading through her body that she wouldn’t be quick enough, cringing every time the lightning snaked through the sky and wincing every time she had to move her left arm. She had to find the next portal before she collapsed completely.

There wasn’t much of a pathway beneath the wild trees to walk, but Rydia found a narrow hint of a trail and followed it, clutching her shoulder and hobbling over roots and wet leaves. This was nothing if not miserable. Rain pelted her skin and stung her eyes, the canopy above her only funneling all the rain water directly onto her head while she walked. To make matters worse, she didn’t see any evidence of the next portal to use for her escape. All she wanted was to leave this place, to take Mist and go, not play some elaborate game of chase. While she was thinking of this, she stumbled out of the tree line and nearly tripped on a pronounced root. She had come to another body of water but this one was riddled with stones. At the end of the trail of stones she saw the portal, standing in the middle of the water. She stood and stared at it, convinced that it couldn’t be this simple. There had to be more. She was right.

The lightning wasn’t as bad here as before, but the water itself was violent. Waves crashed against the shoreline and washed across the stepping stones. If her timing was wrong or she misstepped…. She swallowed and walked to the water’s edge, discerning the path she would take across the stones. Getting to the other side was not going to be easy and she was going to have to be careful.

One step at a time, she leapt. At first it was easy to keep her footing with white crests to know when to jump, but as she jumped closer to the middle of the lake, the waves became higher and harder to see. They rose and fell all around her, hiding the next several stones from view and almost sweeping her off of her feet. The occasional flash of lightning blinded her, made her jump at times too early, while the thunder shook her down to the bones. Worse still, the loss of blood from her shoulder was making her dizzy and weak as the electricity in the air kept her heart beating quickly. If the weather didn’t break her, the fear and confusion just might.

She continued to leap and stumble, leap and stumble, being blinded and stunned by the storm and the waves until she reached the last few stones. That’s when the water caught up to her. A swell that came up to her knees knocked her from her rock and tossed her into the water, pinning her down below. She struggled again to reach the surface, determined not to be swept away. When she emerged, she’d been taken quite a distance from her destination with the current still towing her away. She began to paddle with all her strength to return to the portal. It was agonizing and laborious, but conquering more waves and the rain, she hauled herself onto the stone platform that held the portal. She collapsed directly in front of the threshold, exhausted and relieved. She wanted to return to the white world, the place with nothing in it. She didn’t want to be hot or cold, she didn’t want to be wet and exhausted, she just wanted to rest. Somehow she didn’t think she’d be given that chance, she hadn’t yet, and she didn’t think the Void would be kind enough to grant her a moment’s peace while she was in it without permission.

The lightning continued to blaze and thunder pealed, and at last she pulled herself off of the ground and stumbled into the portal, engulfed once more into its light. She stepped through to solid ground. There were mountains all around her, crags and precipices jutting into the sky. A stiff wind buffeted her, chilling her, and made her uneasy on her feet. All the same, for one delightful moment, she stood in peace and quiet. It was beautiful, if unreal, and she looked at the scope of this new environment with awe. It was almost like sitting in the mountains viewing the Tower of Babil from so far away.

She stumbled forward, sitting down on a large rock and catching her breath. The wind was cooling her off as quickly as the sun was drying out her hair and clothes. Her shoulder was throbbing now, and her feet were sore from all the running, but she could finally sit still for once. She could feel her strength leaving her, but she knew she had to stay focused, she couldn’t fall unconscious yet.

When she felt strong enough to stand again, she looked around. She was on an outcrop, standing on the edge of the world, it seemed. Looking into the distance again, she found nothing but mountains waiting for her in every direction. From there, she had only one option. The way down was too steep, but the rest of the mountain seemed manageable to climb, and as a result, the only path was up. She began her ascent, picking easy hand and footholds and pausing when the pain was too much to bear. The higher she climbed, she noticed that the harsher the winds became. She had to stop more often, take shelter more often, and her stamina wasn’t going to hold out for much longer. As she reached the summit of the mountain, she wondered when it was that the next portal would appear. Soon she hoped. Her clothing had now completely dried and her hair flew into her face every time the winds swept past. When would this end? And where was Mist? Why was she always absent for these trials?

Rydia began moving again, slowly, steadily, until she reached a narrow and treacherous ridge. She could see the portal waiting on the other side, mostly hidden behind a wall of rock, and she knew she’d have to cross the ridge to reach it. Reluctantly, she edged closer, but as she was about to take the first step, a sudden gust knocked her to the right. She struggled to stay upright and clutched the ground in front of her, feeling loose bits of rock dig into the skin of her hands. There was no shelter here from the wind and Rydia remained exposed to its influence. She kept her body close to the ground and crawled painfully forward.

It was another painstaking journey, but through the wind and the loose rock, she reached the other side alive. She was reluctant to stand and lose her footing again, so she crept hesitantly for the portal.

 _Please let this be the last_ she prayed. She finally stood and walked through the doorway. Her foot stepped through first, then the rest of her, but when she thought the magic of the portal should have taken effect already, she found that it had only been an illusion. She had stepped through into nothing. There was no ground beneath her, no new environment waiting behind the doorway, nothing but a steep drop down the mountain. Rydia screamed with terror, daring only once to look down, seeing in that fleeting instant the real portal waiting for her at the bottom. Her body plummeted through it, magic tearing at her essence as she flew. She kept going, falling, dropping, but never finding an end. She once again felt suspended from strings, and her scream faded to nothing but white noise in the nothingness. All of a sudden the wind stopped, the feeling of gravity left her, and she felt that she was simply floating, not moving at all. She stayed that way for a while until her feet brushed against a solid surface and her body collapsed under its own weight. This was the bottom. But there was nothing here. All around her was black. It was the deepest darkness she had ever seen, and there was nothing else. No light, no sound.

“Mist!” she cried out. “Mist, where are you! How many more challenges are there before this is over!”

Her voice didn’t echo, it hung in the air for an instant and was gone. Was this some sort of dungeon?

Rydia thought carefully about what to do next. It hadn’t worked before, but she wanted to try her magic again. Fire could light up this space. She began to chant the fire spell again, crafting the words to be a small flame in the palm of her hand that would stay alight for only an instant. She released the spell and watched a glow brighten in her hand as a small orb of flame hung there suspended by her words. She looked around her, but her spell did little to illuminate her surroundings as the darkness seemed to overwhelm and absorb the light. The flames went out after an instant and the blackness returned. Rydia pulled her knees up to her chest and waited. It was all she could think of to do.

As she sat there she began to drift away. Her exhaustion was becoming hard to ignore and her shoulder was now burning with irritation. Rydia was sure that soon she would be suffering from a fever that would impair her judgment, and it worried her. If the challenges drew on, she didn’t know if she would last. Tears stung her eyes and slipped down her cheeks. She tried to convince herself that there was no use in crying, but still the tears came. She hadn’t asked to come here on her own! All she’d wanted was to find Mist and leave and now Mist had left _her._ Everything ached, everything hurt. She didn’t know when any of this would end or how she was supposed to find her own way out of this torment, but it was frightening!

She hiccupped back a sob and wondered what Black would do in her situation—what Ramuh, Shiva, or any of the others would do if they were in her shoes. What kind of advice would they offer her? But the thought of them reminded her of how alone she was in the darkness. She was completely alone, cut off from her friends. Was this what it was like for the beings trapped in the Void—how Mist had been living for all this time? The thought filled her with more despair and her tears streamed down her face as she cried at the bleakness of her circumstances. She carried on that way for a long time, completely at a loss, cradling her head in her hands as she cried. That was until the voices began.

At first she thought she had a fever, but she definitely became convinced that there were voices speaking in the distance. Then she thought it was Ramuh speaking over a cup of tea, or even Leviathan’s steady voice offering her a reminder of some sort, but then she listened again. It was neither of their voices. This was a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time, a voice she had almost begun to forget. It was warm, but worn, a voice that spoke of its loss, but held a current of resolve. It was Cecil’s voice she heard speaking out through the darkness. Simply hearing the voice of another immediately lifted Rydia’s spirits, and she stopped crying to listen. Her eyes were still closed, but she began to notice a change in the darkness, where smudges of light were beginning to shine through her eyelids. She opened her eyes tiredly, expecting a trick being played on her, but sure enough, there was a portal in front of her. Cecil was there, sitting around a campfire with Rosa at his side and Yang as well. There was another figure by the fire, but it was too far away to discern. Rydia stood up and walked to the portal, uncertain of what she was seeing, and looking at everyone sitting there, watching the flames as they danced in the night air. Cecil’s face was lined with worry. He was taxed by something dreadful, but Rosa sat beside him, her arm looped gently around his elbow. She was tired but resolute, and it seemed that even though there was strain in the air, her being by his side eased Cecil’s mind a great deal. Rydia’s heart ached to watch them, all of them, sitting by that fire. She wanted to be with them. How she wanted to see people again and see the sky, the real sky, not just an illusion.

_Too early. This doorway is not for you._

Rydia turned to see who had spoken, but there was no one behind her.

“Hello?” she called out to no answer.

When she turned around again, the doorway was gone. The frame remained for only a minute before fading again into the darkness. But now the light was coming from a different direction. Rydia turned to her right and saw another image. This time it was of the red hills of the underground. There were cumbersome machines rumbling over the ground with circular turrets aiming for the sky. Fire began raining down on the machines from above, but the machines fired back. Concussion after concussion shook the ground, and Rydia’s heart pounded in her chest in response. There was a battle going on? When had this happened? Was it happening right now?

 _This battle is not for you_.

Again Rydia searched for the mysterious voice, but there was nothing behind her but darkness and more darkness. The portal in front of her vanished, and the light traveled to yet another portal. Rydia walked to that one as well, peering into it.

This time it was a scene in a room with white tile walls and floor. Four crystals shone brightly from their pedestals, radiating power, and seeming to beckon her toward them. She could feel their pull on her, but she wasn’t sure what it was that they wanted. To be used? To be set free?

_You don’t want to go there._

Becoming frustrated by her invisible guide, Rydia watched as the portal faded to nothing once again. This time when she turned around there was a line of five active portals. Each of them showed scenes that were almost exactly the same but slightly altered. They were all of the Summoned Land. Each doorway seemed to be set at a different time, or at a slightly different angle. In some of the views, there were the same Summons moving about on their errands, and in others, there were completely different individuals. Which portal was correct?

_Now you must choose. Which reality will you enter?_

“But how am I to know which door leads to which reality? What if I step through to the wrong time!”

_The cost for meddling with an alternate dimension. Did you really think you had the right to change the course of the future on your own? You’re the one who chose the path to reach here, now choose the final door._

Rydia looked again at all of the portals in front of her. Who was this voice speaking to her? It wasn’t Mist, but who was it? And what was that about her choosing her own path? This was all Mist’s doing! It dawned on Rydia just then that Mist had carefully chosen a path across the white plains in the very beginning, starting Rydia on a path of obstacles that began from her village and ended here. Was all of this laid out ahead of time so that Rydia would reach the correct exit? Were all the doorways that she’d struggled to get through parts of a key to a final lock? But which door?

She calmed herself down and focused on each doorway. They all felt similar, each one with the familiar sensation of magic that she was used to, but also with subtle differences that she couldn’t tell apart. What was the difference between each one? She focused again, prodding the magic in each door to find an answer. After a time, she was beginning to feel hopeless again, unable to make her final choice. There was a stifling feeling to the air around her, and her heart began to race. What if the longer she took, the less chance there was of escaping? She walked up to every portal and searched with her heart, searching for the presence of her friends on the other side. Could she sense their magic? Would that be enough? Out of five doors, two of them carried the distinct presence of her friends. She singled them out and tried again. Two options, but only one could be right.

_The Void will claim you if you don’t make up your mind._

This jarred Rydia’s thoughts. What if she rushed and made a mistake? Was there a way to know for sure which was the proper door?

 _Rydia, remember you must carve your own path. You must search with your heart for the true way,_ Mist’s voice added in soothing tones, drowning out the other, the threatening voice of the darkness.

Rydia calmed down again, stilling everything and reaching out with her magic, with her soul. It was almost like using her gift of sight but in a distinctly different way. The magic of the Void surrounded her on all sides, trying to snuff her out, but the two doorways that she had singled out offered a freshness like a cool breeze through a window on a warm day. Whatever was on the other side was real, but one more so than the other. What was it? She probed deeper. The first door was too good to be true she came to observe as she gazed into the other side with her mind. No one ailed, no one ever cried, and there wasn’t a single thing out of place. It was all perfect. There was no war, no suffering…and yet…and yet…It was all wrong. Reality wasn’t that perfect, it was scarred, it was broken. There were hardships, but there were friendships to be gained and burdens to be shared. The first door was not her world. If she fled through that door she would be running away from her own life and problems, and she’d never be able to fulfill her promises. It was the second door she wanted, full of all the imperfections and frustrations, no matter what.

Rydia took a hesitant step in that direction, but suddenly felt something holding her back.

_You are not allowed to take anything with you. You must not step through that door._

Rydia struggled against the invisible bonds that held her back.

“That’s the door I choose! That’s the door I want! Release me!” she shouted into the darkness.

The grip tightened but Rydia struggled forward. “Mist! Wherever you are, go through that door!”

She wasn’t sure what would happen if she called for Mist, but she could hope that now in the final challenge the Summon would finally answer her. She’d already helped Rydia once so far, and Rydia hoped she’d do it again.

“Mist, now’s your chance to escape! Take it now!”

Rydia pulled herself inch by inch to the glowing portal, but the closer she got the more forces acted upon her. It became clear that she might not reach it at all, but be trapped in this darkness.

“Mist!” she screamed.

Suddenly the Summon was there, materialized in front of the portal, gusting wildly and spreading into the darkness with cold fury. It pushed back the darkness for several yards and wrapped around Rydia like a blanket. It shook loose the bonds holding Rydia back and infused her with a strange surge of energy and power.

 _We leave as one,_ Mist informed her speaking through her mind. _Cast off the darkness and step through the doorway before it closes. You fought hard for that door, best not to waste the chance._

Bolstered by Mist’s power, Rydia walked the final feet to the portal, stepping through just as Mist’s power ceased keeping the Void’s influence at bay. The portal shimmered and froze, spiriting the two travelers away, but locking the powers of the Void in its prison. Rydia and Mist rode the currents of magic that took them through the space of dimensions, from the land of the dead to the land of the living. To Rydia it was like having her first breath of air, like being reborn, and she rejoiced at the freedom. Home! She was going home, and Mist was coming with her!

She was glad that she’d gotten that moment to rejoice, but like all moments, it came to an end. Mist’s voice rang clear again in her mind, and she felt the threads of reality wrap themselves around her like a net, dragging her in.

 _I am sorry, dear one. This has exacted a price that must be paid. It’s a tricky business resurrecting the dead._  

Before Rydia could ask what the Summon meant, the magic of the portal absorbed her completely, consciousness and all.


	35. Chapter 35

_This has exacted a price that must be paid…_

 

            Just as entering the Void had been strange and distinctly out-of-body, so was leaving it. At first the magic of the portal had been a relief to Rydia, but her relief was soon lost to the endless confusion between the layers of time and space. Being pulled across dimensions was suddenly akin to drowning, being tossed about on one breath that she had no knowing of when it could be released or exchanged. She hoped it was only momentary—her journey from her own world to this had been quick enough, but was it her imagination, or was this journey longer than the last? Shouldn’t she have reached the other side by now? She could no longer find Mist’s presence beside her, but she knew for certain that the Summon had entered the portal with her. After all, those were _her_ words as they were swallowed by the magic. A price…what price could Mist have meant?

As she hung suspended by invisible threads of magic, she faintly registered another sensation worming through her skin, muscles, and bones. This was new, not what she remembered from the last traveling. Something was intruding on her essence and working on her in ways she couldn’t discern. What was the magic doing to her?  She was still connected to her physical body, even though the connection felt dull and far away, but somehow she could tell that it was her _body_ that was changing more than anything else. And as with all things magic, the changes it was bringing became clearer the more it worked. She witnessed the wound in her shoulder closing, sinew by sinew being knit together. The blisters and burns on her feet were being repaired and the cuts and scrapes on her hands were also healing to barely visible scars. Rydia watched on dazedly, not knowing what any of it meant or why the Void would bother healing her after trying to lock her behind its dark doors forever. All she could do was remain helplessly entrapped in the flow of magic and undergo its unusual restoration until the portal released her, body, spirit and all to where she belonged.

            Then, with a gasp her lungs didn’t emit, she emerged on the other side, clinging to the plank road of the Summoned Land in desperation. She waited for the world to stop spinning around her fingertips, for her head to clear of the great distances she had witnessed in mere moments, and the feeling that her stomach was lodged in her throat. When she was certain all of her was present and accounted for, a panic gripped her chest. What if the Void had tricked her? What if this was another test waiting to batter her will? She waited for several minutes, but when no crisis arose and there was nothing but the warm sun on her back and arms, did she truly feel safe. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and pushed herself up to kneeling. Then she began checking herself over, wondering if she had imagined what she’d seen while traveling through the portal. Sure enough, when she pressed fingers against her shoulder, the pain she expected to greet them was absent. She prodded again, pulled at her clothing that was still shorn, and saw nothing but a faint white scar where her wound had been. She looked at her hands, where rocks had bit at her flesh and left them raw, but they too were healed. Her feet—everything—she was healed of all her ailments. She felt her face with her hands, wondering why it was, then, that something still felt out of place. What was it that had changed? She felt…she felt, well, _older_.

            “Can you stand?” a voice asked from her right.

            Rydia looked up into the face of a woman with gray eyes and hair the color of snow. She was wrapped in a garment of silver that hung just so over her shoulders and draped down to her feet. She was an ethereal beauty with delicate features. There was something distant about her gaze, and when she walked to stand in front of Rydia she seemed to glide. Rydia could not remember ever seeing this woman before, but when she considered her recent circumstances only one name came to mind.

            “Mist?” Rydia asked hesitantly.

            The woman smiled gently. “So good to hear my name with my _own_ ears. Yes, I am Mist.”

            Rydia jumped to her feet, forgetting her other concerns. “It worked! I mean, it really worked! You’re here, you’re alive!”

            Mist allowed a measured pause. “Yes. You gave of yourself to bring me back.”

            “But…I don’t know how I did it. It all seems so simple now, running from place to place. I don’t understand how I was able to free you at all,” Rydia said all in a rush.

            Mist tossed her head to the side. “It wasn’t simple, not really. You could have lost your way. You could have given up and succumbed to the powers working against you, but you did not. No, this was not simple, and not only for those reasons. I think you’ll soon come to learn of what I speak, but for now I’ll just say that there was a cost for bringing you there, one that you had to pay yourself.”

            Rydia furrowed her brow and was about to ask Mist to tell her once and for all what she meant, but again she was interrupted.

            “She’s back!” someone shouted, and Rydia, startled, looked past Mist to see a Summon child run off in the other direction.

            Rydia then took the time to take stock of where she was standing. She was in the arena, surrounded on all sides by the high walls and stairways that she had stood and fought in so many times before. There were a few Summons standing atop the walls, and some began to turn their faces in her direction when the announcement of her return was passed from person to person. The farther word of her return spread, the more Summons seemed to gather on the fringes of the arena, while others ran down the stairways to get a better look at her. Quite a ruckus was forming as voices clamored to shout “She’s back, she’s back!”

            Rydia looked at all the faces and frowned in confusion.

            “Why is everyone staring like that? I wasn’t gone for more than a night, I _couldn’t_ have been, so…”

            That’s when she saw Shiva in the distance, weaving between idle watchers in an attempt to get closer. The woman’s face was pale with worry and her dark hair was sprawled down her back and shoulders in an unkempt manner. This alteration caught Rydia off guard. What had happened? How long had she really been gone?

            Shiva ran through the rest of the crowds that had gathered, most of them in their human disguises, and split them apart. She ran directly for Rydia but stopped several paces short, startled when Mist turned around and met the ice summon directly. Shiva halted so abruptly that for several minutes she had no words.

            “Mist,” Shiva uttered. “No, that’s impossible. I won’t believe it. This isn’t real. And with Rydia who—no, this isn’t possible.”

            There was an expression on Shiva’s face that Rydia had never seen before. She was staring at Mist as though this was all a cruel joke and her eyes were betraying her, but there was another emotion there that remained inscrutable.

            “Shiva, this is real,” Rydia assured her, stepping past Mist and walking toward her with her hands outstretched.

            Why did she look so stung, so disbelieving? “Shiva, you’re scaring me. What is it?”

            Shiva slapped her hands away, instantly changing her demeanor. “Where have you been? Why didn’t you say a word?” she demanded. “We were worried!”

            The shock of being struck made Rydia step back and look at Shiva imploringly.

            “Rydia, I think now you’ll find what price it is you paid,” Mist informed her.

            Rydia glanced back at her, then to Shiva. “Did I step through the wrong door? Did I choose wrongly?”

            “No, child, you did not. You chose rightly,” Mist promised.

            “Then why—oof!” Rydia announced in surprise, when the air was squeezed out of her lungs by Shiva’s forceful embrace.

            “You’re back. You’re finally back,” Shiva was saying into her hair, holding her as if she never meant to let go.

            Rydia hugged her back, surprised and grateful to be among friends once more. She was perplexed by Shiva’s hug and especially perplexed when Shiva pulled away and there were tears glistening on her cheeks.

            “I _am_ back,” Rydia said again, “But why is everyone here staring at me? Why are you crying?”

            Shiva took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. “You have no idea, do you? You’ve been gone an entire year!”

            “A year!” Rydia cried, unable to comprehend it. “I haven’t been gone a year, only a few days at most. It couldn’t possibly be!” she reasoned, looking at Mist again whose eyes were full of compassion, “Could it?”

            “For stepping across that threshold into the Void you lost a year of your time. Not just your time, but theirs. You aged another year without ever experiencing it.”

            “One year gone? A whole year…” Rydia mumbled.

            “Rydia!” more voices began to shout.

            She looked toward the crowd and saw Ramuh, Black and Ifrit making their way toward her, the former more quickly than the latter. Black was the first to reach her, jumping on her from a substantial distance away, knocking her to the ground.

            “I’m going to kill you myself!” he shouted at her, a hint of laughter in his voice. “I’m going to kill you! And right after I’d just gone off and given you another of my speeches about friendship and reliability, too!”

            “I-I’m sorry!” Rydia sputtered.

            “What on earth happened—the Void, what was it like, was it anything like what the texts described?” he carried on.

            Shiva was dismayed, with one hand on her hip and the other rubbing her temples.

            “Black, I think you’re crushing her lungs,” Ramuh’s wry voice pointed out as the older summon ambled closer.

            Black stepped off of her chest and allowed her to sit up.

            “Ramuh! Ifrit!” Rydia called out to them.

            Ramuh smiled and walked nearer, while Ifrit skulked off a short distance behind. Rydia climbed to her feet completely and ran to hug Ramuh who accepted her embrace with all the warmth of a grandfather.

            “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Longer for us, I think. I wasn’t able to see you before you left, I wasn’t able to do a lot for you then,” Ramuh said.

            Rydia thought back to the days she left behind, now truly feeling like they were ages in the past. Ramuh _had_ been absent often, but she hadn’t given it much thought until now. She’d meant to ask him about it before the Void had spirited her away, but now that opportunity had passed, and she worried what kind of harm her leaving had caused him without warning. She resolved to ask him about it later and apologize for everything.

            “It’s all right,” she assured him. “We’re all back together again. _All_ of us this time.”

            Rydia looked at Mist past Ramuh’s shoulder who looked back with fondness.

            Ramuh refused to let go, and Black decided he hadn’t finished his greeting either. By the end, it was Ramuh, Black, and Shiva who held Rydia tightly within their grasp while Ifrit watched from a distance. It was as much of a greeting as Rydia could expect from the fire summon, but she was so overwhelmed by the affection from the others that she didn’t pay it too much notice. The fact that he was standing there at all warmed her heart.

            “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much happiness from any of you,” Mist observed, standing apart from the others like a family member who didn’t quite know their place in the mix. “I admit, if I could have wished anything for all of you, it would have been this.”

            Shiva was the first to release Rydia and step toward Mist, her old friend. Her steps were hesitant at first, and then she took hold of Mist’s hands in her own and looked into her face. “Sister…you’ve come back to us. I never…I had always hoped even though it seemed it would never happen…but here you are. You’re _home_ ,” Shiva expressed, embracing Mist with a sob.

            For all looking on, it was the most emotion Shiva had ever shown to anyone in a number of years.

            “Dear one,” Mist said, comforting her friend and shedding tears of her own, “I am sorry. I’m sorry for everything. It was my fault that you’re feeling all these terrible emotions at the loss and return of your young friend, and it was my fault for failing to protect Arya that I left all of you here without me for so long.”

            “It was all worth it to see both of you here together and alive. What blame is there to be had? I don’t know how you did it, I have no idea how you did it, but I’m glad,” Shiva replied. “You are a hard one to kill, I know it.”

            Mist laughed at that, her eyes finally shedding their distant cast and shining brightly with joy.

            “It’s so good to be home!” she cried.

            “Welcome home!” Shiva replied happily.

            Mist then turned her attention to the others. “Ramuh, Ifrit, the two of you are looking well,” she said, acknowledging them with a nod.

            “Welcome back to the realm of the living, Mist. It’s been a lonely place without you,” Ramuh answered, smiling warmly.

            “As was my world without you,” Mist replied.

            “But how did this happen!” Black demanded. “Welcome back, Mist, you look fantastic for having been brought back from the dead, but honestly, how did you do it? How did Rydia find you? What happened!”

            Mist laughed through tears. “My goodness, Ramuh, you’re still keeping that one around?”

            Ramuh shrugged tiredly. “I never lack for conversation.”

Looking at Black she sighed. “Ask me later. It’s a long and complicated tale, and it will take both Rydia and myself to tell it properly.”

            “You will most certainly tell this tale of yours,” a voice commanded from outside the circle of friends. They all turned to see Asura and Leviathan both approaching in their royal robes of purple and blue.

            Everyone bowed, including the Summons watching from the sides.

            Asura was the first to speak, singling Rydia out with her sharp gaze. “Rydia, are you well? Are you unharmed? Goodness, you’ve grown,” she remarked, rattled but relieved.

            Leviathan’s eyes swept over all of them, settling on Rydia, moving to Mist and back again. “By all the powers…” he began.

            “To think that after this long wait, not only would Rydia be returning to us, but Mist as well. Girl, I don’t know how you find the tenacity, but you have luck unlike any I’ve ever seen. You could turn a pebble into a diamond,” Asura finished for her husband.

            “You will certainly tell us all that has happened,” Leviathan pressed. “This impossible thing.”

            Rydia wanted to tell them everything and tried to form an explanation, but no matter how she tried, no words came forth. She looked helplessly at the queen, begging her to intervene.

            Asura shifted her attention from Rydia to Shiva, seeming to acknowledge Rydia’s dilemma. “I must apologize to you, Shiva. I know that you had long entertained the hope of finding Mist. I told you and everyone else to forget, I tried to keep all mention of it locked away so that it wouldn’t hurt so much, this pain of parting. I understand now. I’m sorry for having shut you out so completely.”

            Shiva remained fierce toward the queen. “At least I know I am finally vindicated by Rydia’s actions,” Shiva answered. “If she had failed, we would be having a different conversation, after all.”

            “Even so, I should not have said it was impossible.”

            “Enough, enough, I can see this heading toward a battle of wits that I’d rather not have fought right now,” Leviathan interrupted. “This is a time of reunion. Past opinions, past actions, those are all exactly as they say, in the past. For now, I think there is only one more thing that needs to be said.” Leviathan turned and stepped toward Mist, clasping her hands in his. “Welcome back, Mist,” he told her quietly with a smile meant just for her, then turning again, he addressed the crowd with a loud voice: “Everyone! Mist has come home!”

            There were cheers unlike Rydia had ever heard, like flood waters being held at bay until then. The streets and walls all reverberated with happy cries, and it felt just like a homecoming ought to. While she watched the Summons celebrate Mist’s return, she felt her spirits rise and her heart couldn’t help but sing with them.

            Mist was pulled away from her and melded into the sea of Summons, being hugged and tossed about from friend to friend. Rydia herself was approached on several occasions to be hugged or asked a question or two, but overall there was general confusion and merriment. Laughing and smiling, Rydia wound her way to the outside of the arena, hoping to catch her breath. How good it was to have everyone together again!

            While she watched, she wondered if her own return to the human world would be as joyous. Would there be cheers? Would there be tears? Before she could even dwell on the thoughts, there was a pair of arms around her shoulders. She looked back to see long white hair falling over her shoulders and knew it was Mist.

            “With my own arms, I can properly thank you,” she said. “Without you, I would be nothing but a voice floating through an eternity of chaos. At your side, I will continue to exist, and I will never leave.”

            Tears streamed now from Rydia’s eyes, streaking her cheeks as she turned to hug the woman back. “It’s an honor,” she managed to say.

            Mist was all smiles, as she spun Rydia around to face the crowds again, crossing both arms around the girl’s neck and shoulders, and leaning her head atop Rydia’s.

            “You were much smaller the last time I saw you,” Mist observed.

            “You were a dragon the last time I saw you,” Rydia murmured back.

            They both paused and then began to laugh.

            “You will have to tell me everything that has happened since then,” Mist prodded.

            “Everything,” Rydia promised, as the two of them watched the Summoned Land carry on its festivities all around them and long into the night.


	36. Chapter 36

            The next morning when the crowd finally thinned and the conversations had died down, Rydia was left to return to her home, and more importantly, her bed. Stumbling back, she felt drained. All the guests had returned home, the festivities had ended, and it was back to life as usual. She hated that feeling, always had. She remembered asking her mother long ago why festivities couldn’t go on forever, and why, at the end of the day, everyone had to leave, taking all the happiness with them. Her mother’s smile had been a knowing one then, and she’d only tousled Rydia’s wispy hair and said that all things came to an end eventually.

            _All things come to an end,_ Rydia thought as she pushed the door to her home ajar. Why did it have to be so painful to say goodbyes? Mist’s return made her proud and determined, but the summon’s return meant that Rydia’s leave-taking was edging closer. She was going to have to leave the confines of the city and venture into the much larger world. But not seeing the faces of the people she’d come to adore every day, how could she do it? The Summons had become her family, her home, her livelihood. Being apart from them seemed unimaginable—like the worst sort of torture. She loved them too much to leave.

It didn’t escape her that some years before she would have done anything to run and return to the human world, leaving the rules and the training behind her. When had her love grown so great for these people? When had she begun to view herself as one of them, that she _belonged_ here? One year had passed, and her absence had already been sorely felt. What would a longer time away do to them?

            She was still standing dumbly in the doorway, staring at the floorboards, contemplating the worn out boots on her feet, when she noticed that the air held a fragrance different than what she remembered. She idly lifted her gaze, catching snatches of color emerging from unexpected places. A single tear slipped from one eye, and she hastily rubbed it away with a now-calloused hand.

There on the table and on every surface of her home, flowers from her mother’s garden has been placed in vases and pitchers. There were daisies, lilies, foxglove, lupine, and a dozen other varieties brightening the room with their colors and fresh scents.  

            Rydia started to laugh and cry at the same time, her cheeks reddening. How she loved her family! How could she not? She walked to the table in the center of the room and gently toyed with a stray lily petal, admiring its bold spotted pattern. Her thoughts drifted back to her mother’s smile, and the question she’d asked so long ago.

            Why people had to leave each other in the first place…Still, it was hard for Rydia to frown at the idea when she felt so warm and welcomed, surrounded by gentle reminders of the people who held her up when she fell short. They had given her a gift from the gift her mother had once given them, and the weight of all that history, of the intricate connections they all shared was enough to give Rydia pause. Perhaps that was why her mother hadn’t frowned then, either, knowing that partings made the reunions even more heartfelt and appreciated. You rediscovered a part of you that had been missing.

Rydia delicately brushed her fingers past waxy leaves and feathery petals, fully realizing that they would soon wither and fade to brown. For now all she could do was acknowledge their short lives and fragile beauty. Rydia still had time left with the Summons, time to enjoy all of their company and their good advice, but most of all, their love. Her mother had meant for her to enjoy things while they lasted, taking nothing for granted. Besides, wouldn’t her leaving make for a grand return when everything was finished?

            Rydia’s melancholy lifted, but it was a bittersweet revelation. Was that all of life? Fleeting moments of happiness divided by loss and separation? Rydia allowed her fingers to fall to the tabletop where they traced invisible patterns across the wood before returning to her side. She wanted to bottle up this feeling inside her and save it for later, to remind her of the good things she had and all she had to look forward to. She would definitely come back here when her journey was finished, and there would be celebrations to last through the night—several—if she had anything to say about it.

            It was a long moment that she remained where she was, letting the feeling of home sink into her. After a while she became distinctly aware of the state of her body and clothing. She was covered in dust and dirt and smelled of swamp water. She made a face of disgust and longed for a bath and a chance to shed her filthy tattered clothing. All of her physical wounds were healed, but the grime of her travels through the Void had not yet been cleansed from her skin and she wished to be free of it forever. She walked through the room, searching for a wash basin, and found to her surprise, that someone had raised a partition and drawn a bath in a tub made of some great tortoise shell. Who had done all this for her in the short hours she’d been back? There was also a stack of clean clothing waiting for her, all green, and various accoutrements. Rydia picked through them and felt the softness of the fabric. It must have been woven by the Sylphs, she marveled.

            She poked a finger into the water of the bath, and even though it had cooled to lukewarm, she didn’t mind. She removed what was left of her clothing and stepped into the water, reveling in it. A _bath._ She slipped beneath the water’s surface and stayed there for a while, letting it soak into her skin and slide through her hair. She washed with the soap she’d been given, a scent of new spring green filling her nostrils. Had even the soap been enchanted to produce this effect? When she finally finished, she stepped out of the bath feeling clean and invigorated. She slipped on one of the tunics left for her and noticed how it fit her just-so, amazed that her year’s absence and room for growth had been taken into account when it was sewn. Wringing the water out of her long and now tangled hair, she felt truly exhausted and walked toward her bed. The blankets were all fresh and folded back, crisply prepared, and Rydia collapsed into them, smelling the clean linens and feeling their softness on her skin. After what she had endured, it was the simple things that eased her mind and soothed her worn-out body. She closed her eyes and felt herself fall into a numbing sleep, the first respite in a year’s time.

            She wasn’t sure how long she slept, but someone sitting down on her bed and dipping the mattress was enough to bring her awake.

            She blinked bleary eyed at the person and saw it was Mist sitting next to her. Rydia sat up and swept her rebellious long hair behind her back.

            “Come now, you don’t want to keep a queen waiting,” Mist gently prodded, tapping Rydia’s chin with a finger. “Get up and eat something, sleepy head.”

            Rydia rubbed her eyes and looked at the table where fruit and fresh bread had been placed. “The queen?”

            “Asura wished to speak to us both. Go on, get up!”

            Mist stood and walked to the table, waiting for Rydia to pry herself out from under the covers. Rydia followed a few minutes later, groggy, but hungry. The bread smelled delightful, and she could only imagine where the Summons had acquired it or how. She took hold of it and tore off an end, munching on the crust, while Mist walked around the room and looked at things here and there, wearing a different garment than the previous evening that shimmered in the light from the window.

            “This house…” she was saying, when she found the stack of clothing left for Rydia and pulled up one of the tunics. “This is Shiva’s doing,” she smiled.

            Rydia took a swig of water and looked up. “So those were left by Shiva,” she said in surprise, astonished anew by the woman’s foresight with the garments. “I wonder about the rest of it, though.”

            “The rest?” Mist asked.

            Rydia pointed to other corners of the room. “The flowers, the bath, everything.”

            Mist returned to Rydia’s side and patted her head. “There are many people who love you,” she answered with a grin. “Are you finished? Wear this, it should suit you.”

             Laying across Mist’s arms was one of the green tunics that Shiva had laid aside. She took it from Mist’s hands and walked behind the partition to change. When she had slipped it over her head she looked down in surprise. This was the same tunic she’d worn in the Void. One she hadn’t been wearing when she left it, having returned in tattered old training gear. This was fresh, completely new, and cut in a fashion that hugged Rydia’s newfound curves. She spun in place a little, looking at the new outfit from both sides. How could Shiva have known?

            When she stepped out from behind the partition, Mist looked her up and down and nodded.

            “I was right. It suits you.”

            Rydia wasn’t used to the form fitting outfit and nervously tugged at her hair while Mist held out a beckoning hand.  

            “We should straighten out that nest of tangles before we leave,” she remarked with a grin.

            Rydia walked toward Mist and waited while the Summon produced a fine ivory comb and began to tug out the snarls in her hair. “Will it just be the two of us?” Rydia asked, finding herself nervous about this visit with the queen.

“Shall we?”

            Rydia swallowed hard and followed Mist toward the door. “I don’t know what to tell Asura,” she hastily added. “I wasn’t supposed to venture to the Void in the first place…”

            Mist’s smile was as soft as her reply. “Simply tell her the truth.”

            Stepping out her door was almost a battle in itself for Rydia. She and Mist together, about to tell their queen the tale of their exploits for the year of which Rydia had little account. What was she going to say? How would the queen react to her wild tale? She was still coming to terms with the fact that a year had passed, it was so surreal. She _did_ feel older, somehow wiser, or maybe more stern, but a whole _year?_

Stepping into the city made her realize that the Summoned Land was different somehow as well. There was an anxiety in the air, an expectant buzz of activity. Summons on the streets moved with a driven purpose and Rydia could only imagine what events had happened in her absence.

             Mist moved with similar purpose as she guided Rydia not to the library, but down a series of planked streets. Where were they going?

            Rydia walked shoulder to shoulder with Mist, discovering her height in comparison to the other woman’s, as the homes of Summons passed them by. Passages and narrow alleys began to intertwine like a maze, replacing the main thoroughfares with a circuitous but far more interesting route. Rydia had never been to this portion of the city before, and was more intrigued by its existence than she was curious about why Asura had chosen to meet with them here.

            Mist slowed their progress on a long and wide avenue far from where Rydia had ever ventured on her walks with either Shiva or Ramuh. How far did the city stretch? Just how many Summons lived within the spell of concealment that she wasn’t aware of?

            Rydia saw the queen standing at the side of the avenue, this roadway paved with stone rather than wood, and paused to admire the queen’s comportment. She was clothed in the richest of blues, and her dark hair was pinned back with tiny glistening combs crafted with the finest precious stones and gems, most notably, lapis lazuli on consideration of her husband, the king of all waters. She was waiting patiently, lithe hands clasped in front of her with two fingers steepled at the tips. Leviathan stood beside his queen wearing the same regal purple Rydia remembered from the day he had led her into the city. His amber hair streaked with white sat atop his head like wild ocean waves, while his dark eyes watched her calmly, as deep and fathomless as ever. Rydia found the presence of both of them daunting. It was only under times of great change, and mostly changes concerning _her_ , that they gathered together to speak to her in private.

            She and Mist closed the distance between them and bowed before both king and queen.

            Their expressions were passive, no anger present in either Summon, and Rydia waited anxiously for one of them to speak and break the tension in the air. It was Leviathan who spoke first, with the rumble in his voice that Rydia remembered so well.

            “Rydia, I must tell you that we are relieved beyond words to see you safe. Asura knew since your disappearance where you’d gone, but we could only hope that you would succeed in your efforts in the Void and return to us here. It has been a long year of waiting.”

            “That’s how Black knew, and the others,” Rydia wondered aloud.

            The king nodded. “They knew what had happened, though none of us knew _how_ it had happened. Asura did not sense your powers at work but someone else’s.”

            Asura’s gaze went to Mist. “It was your power that pulled her through the divide, wasn’t it.”

            “I am sorry, my queen, but she and I had crossed paths once before. All that was required was to draw her back again. I saw the chance and took it. She is Arya’s daughter, I had much faith that she would succeed.”

            “You took an awful risk with all of our futures,” the queen warned, her voice strained.

            “She would not have perished. I’d have seen to that.”

            “How did you manage such a feat?” Asura inquired. “I’d heard of mages finding ways to transport themselves into the forbidden realm, but not of beings trapped within calling outsiders in.”

            “It’s true, it was not easy, but it wasn’t impossible by any means. I was a sentient being, the first to arrive in many years, and among the chaos, I found I had some control over my senses. It was my consciousness that was able to carry beyond the threshold, but very little of my magic. Rydia, already being sensitive to stray thoughts was brought close to the dimension of the Void by the crystals themselves, and I had but to call and have her answer to know a bridge had been made between us. Such a chance would not have been offered me again, so I beckoned her to enter the chaos and unlock the path to freedom. Only a mage who enters willingly, who remains dominant over their own faculties has such a chance.”

            “Rydia, you had said that your travels hadn’t felt the length of a year at all,” Leviathan interceded.

            Rydia shook her head, strands of hair bouncing against her face. “No, not at all. Everything in the Void happened so quickly, I was whisked from place to place without a second thought. It only could have been the space of a day or so.”

            Rydia looked imploringly at Mist, and saw the woman’s gray eyes staring back at her apologetically.

            “I can explain that,” Mist offered. “Your Majesties, to be able to cross into the Void a price must be paid. Arya spoke of it in the old Summoner’s texts, that all those who succeeded in entering the white plains and returned, did so at the expense of their years. Mostly, those who had attempted the journey were already advanced in years and many perished soon after their return. Rydia is young and attuned to the natural rhythm of power that courses through the world. For her, the price would not be as great, I knew this. She also had myself to serve as a guide, where others did not. However, an extra price was added to her trespass. In order to give me form, much of the year she lost was used to give me life and a corporeal form. Her missing time became the start of my new life, and that is how I was able to leave the Void at her side.”

            “An exchange of power,” the queen murmured.

            Leviathan wrinkled his brow. “To accomplish all this, it truly is a legendary feat. We will have to devote a tomb to its telling, certainly.”

            Asura chuckled softly. “The guardian of Mist and the High Summoner together again. What a sight.”

            Rydia’s eyes went wide at the queen’s words. Certainly the queen hadn’t meant…

            “A High Summoner at her age? Queen Asura, how generous of you,” Mist teased.

            A smile crept across Asura’s lips that creased her eyes. “Soon enough, I think. Soon enough.”

            “Come, let us walk a ways and talk of these adventures you had,” Leviathan invited, sweeping his arm and an impressive sleeve in the direction of the avenue.

            Mist followed with Rydia at her side, and for many hours they wove their tale together for the king and queen—Mist including aspects of the journey that had been unknown to Rydia at the time, and Rydia adding her own thoughts and perceptions. Asura and Leviathan asked few questions, and mostly listened intently to the details of the combined story.

            By the time the telling was complete, they had walked the entire distance of the avenue and arrived at the husk of an enormous tree. Rydia looked up at the gnarled and desiccated tree in wonderment. Had it been alive, its branches would have soared into the sky. Its death left a pang of sadness in her chest. Everything in this part of the city was the same way, quiet, dead, waiting. She looked at the queen, inquiring.

            Asura caught her gaze and rested an understanding hand on the giant tree’s trunk. “This tree once lived and flourished. It stood in the center of my village long ago, so long I can barely remember. It was our symbol of power and vitality. Now it stands here as a reminder of the days spent in yester years and of the wars that decimated our numbers to what you see now. This entire city was filled with people and creatures of every kind, shape, and color. That was until the war...when our servitude became a curse, when we allowed this tree that had been given to us as a token of good faith to wither and perish.”

            Rydia listened to the queen’s words and felt pain constrict her lungs as she tried to hold back her emotions.

            The queen looked at her and then at Mist. “It is time to revive the dead.” Asura closed her eyes and drew upon her power until a fiery green glow erupted from her fingertips still resting on the tree’s trunk. A few moments later Leviathan’s hand joined Asura’s on the trunk, and together they spun a web of magic so powerful that the entirety of the tree began to shine in hues of green and blue, intermingling to a blinding white, and springing to life. Twigs sprouted from skeletal branches, growing, stretching, until new branches replaced the old, covered in new life. Leaves sprouted in great swathes, stretching proudly into the sky like tendrils or banners at last unfurled. It was such a spectacle that Rydia had to step back to catch her breath. It was the most impressive tree she had ever seen, and its symbolic importance to the queen and the others filled her with deep respect.   




             Asura and Leviathan finally stepped back from their work and joined the green haired summoner and silver dragon heiress. The four of them gazed with pride at the canopy stretching far beyond their heads, burying them in shade.

            Asura turned to Rydia at last and rested a hand on her shoulder. “With this we start again. Welcome home, the both of you. Welcome back to the war.”

            “There is much to tell the both of you. We have tales of our own to share, and there are others who would like a chance to speak with you as well,” Leviathan explained. “The time is coming when all paths will cross and there are preparations to be made. Rydia of Mist, the time to realize your powers is swift approaching and you must be ready for that day when you will claim the title of High Summoner and lead us into battle. You have done enough already to make us proud, and we will accompany you to the ends of the earth and beyond if we must, but first there’s some business to take care of. Come, the both of you, we have much to discuss,” the king beckoned, leading them away from the tree, speaking of the past year’s events and preparations for the immediate future.


	37. Chapter 37

 

Time had a way of moving so quickly, that at times Rydia was made to wonder if she’d been caught in some spell for the last year of her training. When she paused to consider it, she realized that the past decade of her life had similarly flown by, and with it, the years of study and practice that had transformed her from a wild-eyed girl into the fiery young woman she was now. She tried to compare her former and present self with little success. How different she’d become! She’d shed one skin and taken on another identity, gradually coming to realize her strengths and the power that surged beneath her skin, roiling within the core of her spirit until it felt insistent enough to break free and light her ablaze. Old fears had been replaced with solid resolve, and with her reservations cast aside, her skills had been honed to a fine edge as sharp as any sword. She was not timid anymore, not afraid to speak the words of power that now streamed from her lips with fervor. Monsters cowered at her approach, elements bent to her will, and with each casting, Rydia acknowledged the legacy of her bloodline, the exhilarating command of magic that had her so enchanted. 

Hers was a gritty confidence, and she knew she owed the Summons much on that account. She was a weapon of magic, slight but steely. If ever there was a time to rejoin her former companions, now was it, with a foundation in the lore of her people strongly secured. She felt the magic gathering in her veins, could feel the pulse of the crystals’ energy just waiting to be channeled through her, and restlessly waited for the chance to use what she’d learned. Golbez would be made to taste the fury of the Summons for what he had wrought upon them and her own people. He would _know_ their pain…

Startled by her own thoughts, Rydia sucked in a breath between barely parted lips, a hiss sounding as a result. She opened her green eyes and tried to slow her rapidly beating heart. It wasn’t her skills that frightened her, it was realizing how soon the battles were approaching that made her heart hammer out of her chest. She’d been preparing for so long, for so many years, and here was her chance. She felt the pressure to succeed, to survive, and it was hard to keep her mind from traveling down dark paths when she thought about rejoining the war. What was awaiting her on the human side of the spell? She had no answers as she sat beneath the giant tree Asura and Leviathan had revived on the first day of her return from the Void. Its great leaves wavered in a breeze circulating through the city, more magic than wind, cooling her with shade.

She’d come here for the express reason _not_ to think. It was frustrating enough knowing that Cecil and Rosa were _so close_ and still beyond her reach, without having to acknowledge that the time for goodbyes to the Summons had finally arrived. She wanted to stay—she wanted to leave. She wanted to fight—she wanted to remain and mount a defense. Conflicting desires and emotions were doing battle within her mind, and trying not to think about either course of action was harder than she realized.

She closed her eyes again, willing calm to her troubled thoughts. Only when she felt a light touch rest on her shoulder did she open them again, looking into Mist’s serene face.

“Is this your new hiding place?” the woman asked, lips pulled into a grin.

Rydia blew out a hurried breath and flung her arms carelessly around her raised knees, annoyed that she’d been discovered. “Not _hiding,”_ she deflected, “Thinking.”

Mist laughed softly, seating herself gracefully at Rydia’s side. “With you, aren’t those two one and the same?”

Rydia gave her a reproachful look, and the Summon only smiled more broadly, dimples forming on both cheeks. “My, my! How close to the mark I’ve come!”

“Is it really—I mean, do I really have to leave? Can’t I stay and fight from here?” Rydia asked beseechingly.

Mist’s expression softened, her grin fading to a thoughtful thin line. Her gray eyes studied Rydia’s own green ones, as she carefully raised a hand to move a stray lock of hair away from Rydia’s face. “You already know the answer, dear one.”

Rydia looked away, betrayed. “It’s not that I don’t want to help Cecil, but…this is my _home.”_

It was Mist’s turn to look away, staring silently down the distance of the road in front of them. It took several minutes before she spoke again, painful resolve sounding in her tone. “No,” she began slowly. “It’s not.” 

Rydia locked the Summon beside her with a fierce gaze. “Of course it is! All of you are my family!”

Mist shook her head. “We’re only substitutes. Your place is with your own kind, and you know it.”

Rydia stood up hurriedly, trembling. “How can you say that! What about the last ten years? I was raised here!”

She was furious now, with herself, and with Mist for saying such a thing. This was one of the unspeakable topics she hadn’t wanted to broach, and now it was plain before her. She _wanted_ to belong here, wanted it more than anything. “That’s it, then. You don’t want me here,” she forced out, staggering words while hoping not to burst into tears.

“Rydia,” the Summon’s voice was low, ominously calm. “You will always be loved by us and held with a level of esteem, but you know why you must leave. This is not the realm of humans, but of beings crafted by magic. Ten years of your life have already been taken, we dare not take any more.”

Rydia was now dangerously near to tears, but she screwed up her features tightly, masking her hurt with stubborn anger. “You’re saying that once I leave, there’s no coming back?”

Mist’s expression was hard to read, and Rydia didn’t want to gaze long enough to find her answer in the silvery eyes.

“I won’t accept that. I’ve proven all of you wrong before, I’ll just do it again. When this is over, I’m coming back.”

Mist’s sigh was resigned. “You may not think the same way in time. I’m merely trying to ease your passage.”

“Why are you even speaking of this!” Rydia demanded, suddenly noticing Mist’s raised brows and realizing it wasn’t the woman’s fault at all, but her own. Her face turned red with embarrassment and she pulled her gaze to an unfixed point further down the road, clenching her fists at her side.

“Rydia, I’m just trying to make sure you don’t spend your energies chasing after illusions. You knew from the beginning that your training was headed toward this path, and Shiva and Ramuh knew that one day they would have to release you into the world. You cannot have reservations when you leave. I won’t allow it.”

Tears were beginning to flood the brims of Rydia’s eyes, her mask proving to be more fragile than she liked. “But does it…” she faltered. “Does it have to end this way?” she asked more strongly, finally finding her voice.

Mist was watching her from the ground, white hair fanning around her face like curtains of silk.

“I don’t want you to feel torn in two when you leave. Some day you _must_ make a choice, please realize that,” Mist explained somberly.

Rydia rubbed her eyes, breathing deeply. “What about all of you? What if something happens while I’m gone? What if Golbez—”

There were arms around her shoulders, just as the night when Mist had returned. They were warm and comforting, wrapping her with strength, so similar to her mother’s own embrace. Tears began to fall in earnest and Rydia tried to brush them away as quickly as they fell, furious at how often she could be brought to tears. Mist tenderly kissed the crown of her head.

“We’ve spoken of this before. All will be well. You have no need to fear, simply call our names and we will answer.”

Rydia leaned on Mist for support and pouted, more to herself than anyone. “I’ve spent the last year trying to store up memories of this place to take with me, hoping to come back again, and now you’re telling me I never belonged here in the first place. You have a cruel sense of humor, Mist.”

“I never said you couldn’t _visit,_ ” she lightly replied, making Rydia reluctantly smile.

“I’m coming back whether you like it or not,” Rydia warned in response.

Mist hummed softly, but said nothing, slackening the grip she held on the young mage’s shoulders.

“You’re going to make me say the goodbyes, aren’t you,” Rydia asked, turning.

Mist tilted her head to the side innocently. “You’ve put them off long enough, haven’t you?”

Rydia feebly attempted to stifle a groan. She had become rebellious toward Mist, treating her like an older sibling who enjoyed meddling too much in her affairs. Mist poked her hard in the back, jabbing her in the direction of home, ignoring the complaint.

“The others are waiting for you, all of them. They have words of their own they’ve been waiting to share with you. It would be mean to make them wait any longer.”

This time Rydia sighed and crossed her arms. “Asura hasn’t said anything yet, has she?”

Mist was bemused, trying to hide a grin. “The queen still does not know the exact time for your departure, no, but stop putting things off to the last minute, silly girl. Go, go!” she commanded, shooing Rydia away and down the street, watching the green clad summoner stubbornly traipse in the direction of her responsibilities.

Mist stood for a long time in the same place, her feet as rooted to the ground as the tree. She knew who had been standing behind the giant trunk silent as winter’s night, listening to the entire exchange.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” she inquired, voice tight with emotion. It had been harder to speak to Rydia than she’d anticipated, despite her smile.

Silks rustled and sandaled feet scuffed the loose dirt surrounding the tree’s base. “What else is there to say, sister?” Shiva replied, stepping into view, elegant and cold. When she stood abreast of Mist, she cast a sidelong glance. “It had to be done. It’s better for _us_ to begin cutting the ties rather than leaving the task to her. If it were her choice, she would exhaust her life hiding behind our hospitality.”

“I don’t think she listened to my words,” Mist pointed out wryly. “She has the rebellious nature of her mother, and that’s a difficult beast to overcome.”

Shiva rested her hands firmly on her hips, blue sleeves trailing down past her thighs. “It’s something for her to think about while she’s away. I can only hope that time among her own people will open her eyes to the truth. She belongs with humans.”

“Why did you ask this of me?” Mist asked, quizzical.

“You she reveres too much to despise,” Shiva responded with a small grin. “She wouldn’t have taken me seriously.”

Mist shook her head in disbelief. “And the queen, is she still in seclusion?”

“She watches the progress of the outsiders closely every day. She can’t afford to allow a moment to go by without keeping watch. They are drawing near, or so I understand, but not near enough.”

“You don’t think she’s stalling on Rydia’s behalf, do you?”

“Whether she is or not, there will come a point when that kind of time no longer exists. Rydia will have to say her goodbyes and make quick preparations for her departure.”

“You did a remarkable job training her to this end,” Mist pointed out. “She will do well.”

“You know, she spent most of her time among us trying to search for a way to bring you back from the dead,” Shiva replied. “It was you that gave her a focus to her training and you that gave her the confidence she needed to stand on her own two feet.”

Mist began to walk down the street, leaving the ice summon behind her, but she turned to give her friend a knowing look before she left. “I can’t take all the credit for that, my dear. After all, if the two of you didn’t share such a tight bond, you would have been the one standing in my place today saying those words.”

At Shiva’s stung reaction, Mist smiled. “See, I knew I was right.”

 

……………………………………………………………………..

 

Rydia trudged down the stone street, oblivious to the conversation being held behind her. She plodded through the maze-like alleys and side streets until familiar ground greeted her eyes and wooden planking replaced ancient stone.

She was angry with Mist for what she’d said, and angrier still at herself for thinking she could stay here indefinitely. Hadn’t she been waiting to return to Cecil’s side for all this time? She imagined dark clouds hanging above her head as she walked between the small crowds of Summons going about their daily business. She tried to smile at a few of them as she passed, but on the whole, her mood was bleak. Had Mist really needed to be so blunt? There’d been a trace of ice behind the other woman’s words, and Rydia wondered if Shiva had somehow had a hand in it. It wouldn’t surprise her in the slightest. This was just the kind of thing the ice summon would do.

In some remote corner of Rydia’s mind, she understood why Mist had felt it necessary to tell her those things, to encourage her to be true to the cause she’d been training for and venture outward instead of staying. That didn’t, however, make it any easier, and Rydia still felt frustration with having to always make a choice between what she wanted and what she _needed_ to do.

Besides, she’d never been good at saying goodbyes. Not ever. Not even to the village children of Mist when they’d all been forced to part for the dinner hour. It had to be wrenched out of her if at all, or come upon her so quickly that she had no time to think about it.

She’d gone into “hiding”, as Mist called it, several days ago, after she’d closed the last of the Summoner’s tomes Black and Ramuh had set aside for her. It had been difficult to shut it and acknowledge what it meant. It marked the beginning of the end of her time with all of them. Ten years already spent.

It was hard to accept that there would be no more leather bindings and parchments that crackled like autumn leaves beneath her fingertips; no scent of lamp oil burning richly in their sconces from solid stone walls. She’d already learned to read and write in this place, gleaning secrets hidden from the rest of the world and given to herself, the last of her people. She’d grown up, she’d traveled the stark white plains of the Void and returned with Mist at her side…and she’d formed a family of such disparate members that it almost made her laugh to think of the effort it took to bring them together.

What would she tell them?

She espied Black’s spotted amber coat between the legs of some rather scaly summons and trotted to catch up to him.

“Black!” she called out.

He stopped, looking back at her. “There you are! Why is it you let Mist take up all your time these days?” he asked accusingly.

Rydia reached him and grimaced at his remark, running a hand along the scalp of her long jade hair. She didn’t want to admit that she’d been avoiding everyone.

“We have a lot to talk about,” she half-lied.

He blinked lazily, and continued walking with her at his side. “So I was thinking…” he announced after a while. “I’m fairly small—travel sized—and it probably wouldn’t be too much of a drain on you to bring me with you. I could stay in a pack! I wouldn’t complain! What do you think?”

Rydia laid an incredulous look on him. “Black, that wouldn’t work.”

“Why not!” he demanded. “This is better than my other plans!”

Her grin was devious. “They were _all_ bad, Black, and you know it. You just want to escape the city and get away from Ramuh.”

He stopped walking and stared at her, deadly serious. “Oh please, _please_ get me out of here.”

They stared at each other for a moment in stark silence, and then Rydia burst into laughter, unable to contain herself at the sight of Black’s deadpan expression. “Now who’s complaining about reading books!” she blurted out, nearly doubling over.

He continued to stare at her, not amused. “You only had him as your teacher for several months, but try several human _lifetimes_. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve heard him tell the same stories? Do you know how _frustrating_ that is?”

Rydia’s laughter had died down to a chuckle, but there were still tears pricking the corners of her eyes, she’d been laughing so hard. She couldn’t stop imagining Black traveling in a small pack on her back with his ears laid back and a sour expression on his face. The picture of it almost made her lose her composure again.

“I’m sorry, Black. Not only is it physically impossible, but you know Shiva would never allow it.”

“Sure. You can go to the Void and bring back Mist, but you can’t suffer a tagalong like me,” he retorted, stalking off ahead of her again.

“Don’t take it personally,” she implored, aware that this was just a mock argument he’d raised to start conversation—his way of easing her mind. In fact, this was the fifth ridiculous plan he’d come up with this week. Sixth, if she included the plot involving the catapult…

 “Fine, fine, don’t take me with you, but don’t let your guard down around my cousins, the couerls—and _don’t_ forget that swordrats are hard customers! You’ll get a face full of spikes if you cross them the wrong way!”

“Black—”

“And _don’t_ go out wearing poor equipment, replace your gear whenever you have a chance!”

“ _Black!_ ” Rydia finally interrupted him, causing him to look up at her impatiently. “Thank you.”

He shifted uncomfortably, and kept on walking, rambling on about a list of items to remember and look out for on her travels. Rydia rolled her eyes and started to pay attention to where he was leading her instead.  

Ramuh’s sturdy home appeared before them, and as they approached, the door opened and the man himself stepped out, clothed in his tawny robes with staff in hand. He noticed them and smiled, waving his staff in the air. “Hello there!” he said in greeting.

Rydia smiled and waved back, Black unable to do so himself.

“Out for a walk?” he asked politely.

Rydia clasped her hands behind her back and shifted all her weight to one leg, the bottom of her long green tunic hanging in the space between like an off-centered skirt. “I suppose you could call it that,” she answered, glancing significantly down at Black.

“Ah,” the thunder god responded, realization dawning. “How many schemes is he up to this week, might I ask?”

“THEY’RE NOT SCHEMES!” Black exploded.

“Five,” Rydia replied cheerily.

Ramuh scratched his bearded chin. “Is that including or _excluding_ the plot concerning the catapult?”

“I’ll have you know that Mist thought it was a brilliant idea,” Black added fiercely in his defense.

“Only because she wanted the chance to blast you into the sky herself,” Ramuh chuckled.

“And where were _you_ heading off to?” Black demanded of Ramuh, changing the subject.

Ramuh looked around, as if unsure himself why he’d stepped out his front door.

“Now that you mention it…”

  1. “Why don’t we head toward the garden?” Rydia suggested, stepping away from the house, hoping they’d begin to follow. She’d begun to notice Ramuh’s forgetfulness months earlier, and was trying to be helpful somehow, hoping that more interaction would bring him back to his former self.    



When they were all walking along the street, Ramuh cleared his throat. “Rydia, I know you don’t want me to talk like this, but I don’t know how much time there is left, and I wanted to tell you before we ran out of it. Thank you for always being so cheerful and such a devoted student.”

Rydia smiled, not sure how to reply, until she saw Black. He was smirking at her mischievously—could cats smirk?—and she could kick him, the brat. He knew most of her secrets and had born the brunt of her temper and complaints on many occasions, something the other summon hadn’t witnessed, and she herself would never admit to. Ramuh noticed the strange exchange of glares and rubbed the top of his head in confusion. “Is something wrong?”

Rydia shook her head decisively. “No! Nothing’s wrong!”

Black snorted and Rydia began to stomp forward angrily.

“Though I will also miss watching the two of you argue,” Ramuh pointed out with a laugh.

They walked a ways and then Ramuh stopped again. “But really, Rydia, these past ten years have been some of the best of my life. I have you to thank for that. If you ever need to speak to me, don’t hesitate to summon me to your side. I will talk for as long as you like.”

“Thank you, Ramuh,” Rydia answered, literally touched at his admission. “I know I will miss our conversations when I’m gone.”

The old summon looked like _he_ was about to cry and Rydia stepped closer to give him a comforting embrace. “I’ll come back, I promise,” she told him, trying not to giggle when his whiskers tickled her face. “Golbez won’t beat me so easily.”

“If he does, can I have your bed?” Black interrupted from below.

Rydia and Ramuh both gave him pointed looks.

“I was _joking,_ of course.”

“Are you trying to set a record of some sort?” Rydia snapped at him.

“No,” he replied lightly. “I’m just being thorough.”

Rydia shook her head in disgust. She had to admit that he _did_ have a talent for lightening the mood of a somber situation. For that, at least, she could be glad.

“Ah look, more company coming to join us,” Black muttered dryly, and the three of them turned to look down the road at Fenrir and Siren, both approaching in a hurry. Rydia stepped away from Ramuh, and steeled herself for what she feared to hear. The brevity of the mood ended abruptly, and Rydia’s smile turned into a set straight line.

“Is it the queen?” she asked, hesitantly, when the other pair of Summons was close enough.

Fenrir nodded, his golden eyes fixed on hers. “She asked for you urgently. There isn’t much time.”

“Where is she?”

“Follow me, I’ll take you there,” the wolf spoke, bounding back the way he’d come with Rydia chasing after him. Black was quick on her heels as well, but Ramuh stayed behind. He already knew what their departure meant, and he hadn’t the energy of his youth to keep up. His goodbye had been interrupted, but he had faith that they’d speak again sooner than later. It was a harsh reality all of the summons were bracing for—the time when their cherished summoner would no longer live among them. It was only strange that no one had seen her until very recently…what could she have been doing, he wondered…surely Shiva or Mist would know, he thought, as he slowly ambled in the same direction of his young friends. Maybe he wouldn’t be too late to give his _real_ words of parting, but knowing Rydia, events had a habit of speeding up in her proximity rather than slowing down, and he silently cursed his weak knees their duplicity.

With Ramuh behind them, the other four dashed to the entryway of the city, the portal that connected the realm of the spell to the human world. Asura was there waiting for them, standing beside Leviathan, faces both shadowed with serious expressions. Rydia skidded to a stop in front of the queen, out of breath, and anxious.

“Is it time already? Is it really time to leave?” Rydia huffed, still unable to stand upright completely.

“I hope you’ve said all the words you needed to,” the queen announced ominously. “I’ve waited as long as I could, and I may have even waited too long.”

Rydia’s conversation with Mist collided with the one she’d just had with Black and Ramuh in her mind. Her goodbyes…she hadn’t said hardly any of them…mostly pathetic apologies and promises, but not what she’d wanted to say, and certainly not what they’d deserved.

“But I’m still not ready! I don’t even know what to say!” Rydia objected, still not fully at terms with the idea of leaving, possibly for good. She could feel the call of her magic, urging her to step outward and forward, but her emotions were anchoring her in place. She didn’t want to leave the Summons…she was too afraid of what she might find on the other side.

“I told you not to have reservations, and here you are with your feet stuck to the ground,” Mist scolded her, approaching from one side along with Shiva who had a sorrowful, but resolute cast to her features.

Rydia couldn’t help but frown at the two of them together. So they _were_ in some sort of alliance, she fumed. Shiva walked closer until she stood at Rydia’s side, only slightly taller than the Summoner who’d recently shed the softness and shortness of her girlhood for battle trim instead. The ice summon gripped her in a firm embrace, releasing her almost as soon as she’d latched on.

“For luck, though I’m sure you don’t need it,” she explained. “And take this with you, it should be of good use to you now,” she continued, handing Rydia the sturdy whip she’d trained with for so many years.

“May you fight your battles well,” Mist added, smiling encouragingly.

Leviathan and Asura watched these proceedings quietly, always observers, rarely participants, until Leviathan finally cleared his throat.

“The time for partings has ended. Rydia, we must go. Step with us through the portal and face what hand fate has dealt you,” he beckoned, holding out a hand from beneath his flowing purple robe.

Shiva nudged Rydia forward when she failed to move herself. She took one step first, then another. There were still so many things unsaid!

“Rydia!” Black shouted suddenly, causing her to turn around again. “Good bye! And good luck! We’ll be waiting!”

She smiled, tears forming again for what felt like the millionth time that day, and waved, smiling wider when she saw Ramuh approaching from behind the amber cat, waving back at her.

“Good bye!” she shouted, terrified to leave them, but determined to face whatever lay in her path with their strength at her back. She finally turned again and took Leviathan’s offered hand, leaving the city just as she’d first entered it, with the king of all waters by her side.

When they reached the other side, the queen took her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye, a look so fierce, it made Rydia’s insides lurch.

“I have told you little these past weeks because I knew it would only make you anxious,” the queen began, and Rydia could tell there was information Asura had waited to tell her until they were alone. “First, you should know that Cecil and the others have arrived in the castle stronghold of the dwarves. I waited as long as I could, hoping to give you enough time to prepare, but the longer I waited, the more events became twisted by the distortion of this spell. Time is not always constant between this realm and that, you know this, and rather than returning you to your fellows in good time, with ample room for explanations, events moved faster than I planned, and danger arose before I could even realize it was there. I fear I was too late in asking for you, hopefully not too late that your companions now face grave peril,” the queen said, pausing for breath. “I’m sorry to have brought this upon you so abruptly, and to tell you that I will be sending you straight into danger and uncertainty, but I had no other choice,” the queen explained hurriedly, speaking clearly and decisively so Rydia would be sure to understand her meaning. She then pulled a leather pouch from a belt of golden twine around her waist and thrust it into Rydia’s hands, a faint tinkling of phials being heard. “Take this with you, it’s sure to help,” the queen offered. “There are several items in that pouch. Use them wisely. Keep your wits about you and be strong. I can sense Golbez’s powers at work very near your companions, and you will need to be at your best if it’s him you face. Remember that there are many summons who would gladly like a chance to make their presence known to him. Do _not_ hesitate.”

Rydia’s nerves went taut. _Golbez._ Her very first battle might be with him of all people. It sent a shock through her system that she tried very hard to subdue. She didn’t feel ready for this at all. Everything was happening so fast, so suddenly, that it had barely begun to sink in what she was about to encounter.

Asura and Leviathan then both shifted so that two pairs of hands rested on either shoulder. Rydia gave them each an apprehensive glance, wondering what was about to happen next and suddenly wishing that Mist was with her, guiding her through everything, or even Shiva.

“Now we must be quick,” the queen continued. “We will send you as close as we can with our power combined, but should we err, may all speed be with you. Let nothing stand in your way. Remember your blood right: you are a Summoner, a wielder of powerful magic, and a seeker of justice. There are hands of fate at work here greater than any of us can imagine, and this fight belongs to us all, human and Summon alike. Now is the time, we will give you the means to fly. Good luck, daughter of Mist,” the queen decreed, almost prophetic as her aura of magic swept like lightning from her hands and into Rydia’s body, combining with her husband’s and consuming Rydia in blinding light. The duality of magicks made Rydia gasp and her own magic surge in response, a crescendo of power that brought Rydia’s senses to a frenzy. _Release! She sought release!_ as the spell of teleportation expanded, fully encasing her. It was more powerful than any such spell Rydia had ever experienced before, and in the blink of an eye, the king and queen of the Summoned Land were lost to her sight, replaced by enormous distances being swept from beneath her—oceans of magma, continents of blistering rock—the entire breadth of the Underworld in an instant.

Like a tether cut loose, the Summons had released Rydia from their midst. All she’d been left with were their words of encouragement and the raging magic within her to carry her the few remaining feet to the battle that awaited. Cecil was depending on _her_ now, and he didn’t even know it! Failure was not an option, and she shut out all other thoughts, regrets, and wishes from her mind to focus on this one upcoming task. Gritting her teeth as the spell spit her out onto solid ground, she took heed of the queen’s last words and made haste.

It wouldn’t be long before she discovered just how much each second truly mattered.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I definitely would not have been able to continue this without the support of all of you who took the time to read it and offer me your feedback. I truly appreciate it, and I know that epic!fics can often be a huge time investment to read. I hope it lived up to your expectations and that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> For my Ao3 readers, a note about this piece--this project originally began in 2006, and the final chapters were written in 2008. This story may chronicle 10 years of Rydia's life, but it also chronicles two years of mine. You may have noticed major style changes from beginning to end, and I'd like to say that by the 30's, I'd figured a few things out. This story was also written pre-DS remake and has not been touched or edited since 2008. If anyone would like to take on the monumental task of beta-ing this story, please private message me. This story is truly a labor of love, and I'd love to tweak it to perfection for both my own sake and for the sake of the FFIV fandom. 
> 
> Cheers  
> ~Myth


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